Here we are at the end of April so soon. It’s been an active month for us. We’ve made a final pass on another novel. We’re still thinking of an appropriate title. Also putting ideas together for another novel and trying to focus on the heart of the story line.
This month we’ve had a couple of book signings. One was at It’s a Grind Coffee in Austin and the other was at Daily Grind in Boerne, TX. (Boerne is pronounced Bernie). We had a fun day in Boerne because of their having a Corvette car show on Main St. right in front of where we were set up. Couldn’t believe that there were so many Corvettes in Central TX. Other vintage cars were shown as well.
From our standpoint, the worthwhile movie selection this month was sparse. We did see 42, the movie about Jackie Robinson. It was a really good flick.
Our older son took a position with HP in the Houston area and is already working there. The family will be moving down to settle in Tomball, TX in June.
THE FENCE! We planted oleanders two years ago to try and cover the horrible wooden fence our neighbors erected along the property line. Last winter the plants suffered frost damage, but are recovering nicely now. We just want them to grow tall and wide enough to cover the ugliness.
As usual, we need rain. Fortunately we received just short of two inches since last Saturday. Still need a lot more to fill the lakes and ponds.
The other day we were followed while driving our Pontiac Solstice coupe by a fellow who wanted to know where we got it. In 2009 Pontiac closed its doors and as a result only about 1100 coupes were produced. It’s a really rare car. This was just one of a number of times that we’ve been followed into parking lots while driving this car. One fellow came along side us and took a photo of our Solstice while we were driving 70 MPH on I 35.
We hope you’re having an enjoyable spring wherever you are.
April Showers to May Flowers
Where Has March Gone?
It’s hard to believe March has melted away with Easter just a few days away. The month began with Cash’s birthday celebration at a local restaurant. We were so happy to be with our youngest son and his family. While there we also celebrated three other birthdays in the family that day: our granddaughter Lauren turned 16 on the 14th, her brother Nate reached 19 last month and our daughter in law also celebrated her birthday the last of February.
Since the release of our new novel The Iris Covenant on the 5th, we lined up six book signings. For details see our website events calendar. We received our first review of the novel from author Phil Ward which he posted on Amazon.com. We were very pleased with his review.
There haven’t been many movies worth seeing the past couple of weeks. However, we did make a point to see Emperor last weekend. Although Tommy Lee Jones played General MacArthur, we think it was a terrible miscasting; he wasn’t the right person for the part. On the other hand, the movie itself was informative for those who know little about Japan at the end of WW II.
The weather has been exceptionally cool for this time of year in Texas; sweater and jacket weather. Although we received a couple of inches of rain, it wasn’t sufficient to break the drought.
Most of the month has been devoted to rewrites for the next novel which we hope to get into the publisher later this spring. It’s another suspense thriller that nicely corresponds to our new graphic – the slightly film noir character symbolizes our current and upcoming protagonists.
Gearing Up
Here we are three quarters the way through February and it’s hard to believe our new novel The Iris Covenant is due to be released by our publisher in two weeks.
You may have noticed that the header of our website has a new logo – Byron’s Bibliomania and an associated graphic. The new graphic identifies what the genre will be for upcoming novels – mystery/suspense/thriller. The Iris Covenant falls into that category.
On the 4th we drove down to Kerrville, TX to get away for a couple of days. We’ve been working steadily on the next novel and needed a break. While in the Kerrville area we did some antique shopping and enjoyed some great meals. The weather was perfect – in the 70s and sunny. The only ill weather we encountered was during the night at the B&B. The rainfall drumming on the tin roof of our rustic lodging kept us awake for short spells.
For Valentine’s Day we drove up to Salado, TX where we dined at one of our favorite restaurants. We had delicious salmon and for dessert rice pudding stuffed in a fresh pear; unusual but tasty.
For those of you who are movie buffs, here is a rundown of what we’ve seen since the last posting: Zero Dark Thirty, Parker, Stand Up Guys and A Good Day to Die Hard. Of the four we were surprised how much we enjoyed Stand Up Guys with Al Pacino and Christopher Walken; two retired gangsters on their last fling.
We had a book signing at Book People in Austin last Friday night for Within the Walls of Santo Tomas. There were two other authors there. We had a very enjoyable time talking to the other authors and the attendees. We plan on having another signing event there for The Iris Covenant.
With spring around the corner, we had some work done on our classic Buick Grand National. A little polish and the car will be ready for upcoming car shows. We enjoy schmoozing with the other car owners and spectators.
Looking out the window we see dark overcast skies. Hopefully we’ll get some much need rain in Central TX.
New Year’s Greetings
It’s hard to believe that it’s time to switch to new calendars throughout the house. 2012 certainly has passed quickly.
Since our last blog update, we turned our attention to the year-end holidays. First there was Thanksgiving in Tyler, TX where we dined with our future daughter-in-law’s family. A great time was had by all.
After returning home we started doing some trimming for the Christmas holiday. We kept our effort minimal. Next came shopping for gifts. It seemed like every time we left the house we found ourselves purchasing another gift for someone in the family. Since we were having our two sons and their families here for Christmas dinner, we wanted to make it something special.
Now that the new year has begun, our updated website which includes our new novel The Iris Covenant is nearing completion by our webmaster.
Even though our new novel won’t be released until March 5, readers will be given a taste of its content on the website. If you read the promo and sample chapter, you’d see this novel is a completely different genre than our previous release.
Catching up on movie going, we saw three good films. The first was The Hobbit which we really enjoyed as it carried the flavor of The Lord of the Rings and ended with you looking forward to the sequel. The next was Tom Cruise’s new film Jack Reacher. We were surprised at how entertaining it was. The last was Les Miserables. It gave you a strong flavor of how crude life was in France during the early part of the 19th century which is something you didn’t get from the stage performance. Also, we felt the stage version was more dramatic and more enthralling.
We wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year.
Election Day
We beat the crowds by voting early about a week and a half ago.
Just learned that our new novel The Iris Covenant is to be released mid January. We signed off on the final copy today and we’re awaiting publishing and marketing.
Since the last posting, we had the exterior trim painted on our 13 year-old house and it looks like new.
We drove on the new section of tollway 130 between Seguin and Buda, TX (40 miles) where the speed limit is 85 MPH. Unknown to us, it happened to be the first day it was open. We took our Pontiac Solstice coupe on the road and ran it up to 100 MPH for a short period. It reminded us of when we were stationed in Germany and drove on the autobahn. Wonder how disappointed we would have been if we had been a day early.
We’ve been to the movies again. The first was Argo with Ben Aflac; a pretty good flick about rescuing five Americans from Iran during the 1979 revolution. The second was Alex Cross, a movie made from one of James Patterson’s first novels; a pretty good story which could lead to a movie series. The third was Flight with Denzel Washington; a good but sad movie about an alcoholic commercial pilot.
With the addition of two more clocks, one for our anniversary and one for Betty’s birthday, Cash doesn’t look forward to resetting the myriad clocks when we fall back and spring forward. He always misses a couple resulting in resetting them sometimes days later.
One more lawn mowing and our yard is set for the winter.
Until our next blog, hope all is well with you.
