Even though there's still snow on the ground, I sense this stirring in the air, and even in people, that tells me a change is coming! I can't ignore the daffodil sprouts in the garden, and the garlic shoots, and the ads in the stores that signal more colorful clothes, vacation ideas and summer beach books.

Last spring, I was eagerly awaiting a trip to Ireland with my family. Even though I had been there before, I was eager to see if there were any changes. There were, of course, and not always for the better. But it's still a delightful land, full of the most hospitable people on the face of the earth, breathtaking scenery and rugged coastlines. We got to see some really cool, out-of-the-way places and of course, managed to soak in some local culture at a few pubs along the way. Some of our group made the trip to Skellig Michael over rough seas and without "facilities," if you know what I mean. Skellig Michael is a setting in the most recent Star Wars movies. I wish I could have gone, too, but I have my limits. I did go to the Skellig Chocolate Shop, however.

And now, a whole year has come around. No special vacation plans to look forward to, but plenty of get-togethers with family here and there. And I'm happy about that, actually. I love having time to putter in my so-called garden. Every year is an adventure in seeing what I can put in the ground that actually comes up. I did well last year with peas and beans (sometimes too many) and some herbs which I dried and used during the winter. For most of the garden, I tossed in a packed of flower seeds and just let them do their thing. It worked somewhat. At least I could look at it, even if I didn't produce much to eat.

As for writing, I finished my third Aiden Pike adventure (see BOOKS) and was happy with it. At the moment, though, I'm working on a piece for a seniors' magazine. Winter, with its enforced isolation, is a good time for writing. I don't expect I'll be doing much from now until September, except for my column SCRAPBAG in a local paper.As the seeds in my garden germinate, so, hopefully, will be some ideas in my head.

     Every year I find I'm surprised by fall's subtle changes that appear even while I'm enjoying a sunny day at the beach in August. The slant of the sun, the darker mornings, the almost imperceptible changes in the color of the leaves, geese beginning togather on the lake. And the appearance of a pomegranate on my breakfast plate.
     Growing up, I had no idea that pomegranates even existed. We didn't have exotic foods at our house. Broccoli was about as exotic as it got. But later--way later--in life, I discovered them and immediately fell in love.
     I'm not sure why, either. They do taste good, but they are such a pain to process. Every morning I stand by my kitchen sink and struggle to extract those little red arils from their strange membrane from a half of a pomegranate, stopping to corral the runaways skittering across the counter to what they probably hope is safety. Yes, I've read all the articles and seen all the videos professing to have the best method of harvesting these pesky pips, but in the end, I decided that my system works for me.
     I think it has to do with discipline. Patience, if you will. It makes me stop in my headlong dash into the day and concentrate on this one task. Not that I do much headlong dashing anymore, at least it gives me a chance to get my head together, to put some sense of order to my day. As a writer, I struggle with patience a lot. If the words won't flow, if the plot doesn't thicken, my first instinct is to get up and do something else. I often have to force myself to sit there and type gibberish, if necessary, until the muse begins to stir once again. Pulling pomegranate arils from their confines is a bit like pulling words out of my head.
     So that's my little philosophy for the day. You're welcome.
     Oh, and my daughter Peg recently gave me another reason why it's good for me to go through the hassle of my pomegranate. I have to stand. Standing is the New Smoking, say signs in my doctor's office. One more occupational hazard for writers!
     Happy Fall!

     Writing is one of those endeavors that requires a lot of self-motivation. I often need to find increasingly creative ways to get myself moving. Some days, anyway. To be honest, it's been pretty much like that all summer, and for the most part, I've failed miserably. Once the doors and windows fly open to fresh air and bright sun, I want to be outside, not hunkered down over a keyboard.
     The game changer this month was a persistent heat wave that blanketed Cleveland for several days. Not one for air conditioning as a general rule, there were several days where I just had to give in and throw the switch. But even that didn't send me to the computer. I mainly puttered around, knitting some, baking some, taking care of all the nuts and bolts of running a household until I actually ran out of things to do. I was trapped. Not wanting to stay in, not wanting to go out.
     Enter Pokemon GO.
     My first reaction to this phenomenon was, "Hmmm. A cool thing for kids to do." I was intrigued by the technology, but remembered back several years when my grandson Tim tried to teach me the intricacies of his Pokemon collection and how to play it. He was about four and I was--well, quite a bit older. As I recall, I listened politely and nodded wisely here and there so he wouldn't realize that my head was spinning and my comprehension level was zilch. So, although Pokemon GO looked like fun, I decided I didn't have the brains, or the time, to get involved.
     Enter my writer friend, go-to techie and consummate blogger (www.raisinglifelonglearners.com), Colleen Kessler. We were having a bite to eat and some libation after a meeting one night when the subject of Pokemon GO came up. She pulled out her cell phone and immediately found a Pokemon to capture. And I was captured, as well. The next morning, I downloaded the app and soon found a Pokemon at the edge of the woods behind our house. There were two others in the park and during a walk, I got those, too. Plus I encountered several kids who were obviously on the hunt, too. I say obviously because they all had phones in hand and were clustered around where my own phone told me there was a Pokestop. I couldn't help myself. I had to ask them if they'd found anything. Their reactions ranged from incredulous (that someone even older than their mother knew what they were doing), triumphant (meaning yes, they'd caught one) and disgusted (their battery had run out).
     Several days later, I was in a nearly small town to run some errands and turned on my phone. Just to check, of course. The entire screen was filled with nearby Pokestops. I gave one brief thought to going after the prey when I realized how often I'd been telling people (and myself) I didn't have enough time to do this or that. Did I really want to use what little I had on such a fruitless endeavor? No, I decided after wrangling with my conscience. I did not.
     Still. . .
     Thoughts of these creatures continued to intrigue me. I managed to find Pokemon at places where I naturally went anyway--Wal-Mart, a restaurant, the theater--and church. Believe it or not.
     Then, one day, I had an inspiration. I had a few hours. It was Sunday. It was raining. Rather than spend them surrounded by closed doors and windows, I decided to go to our local library. I needed to get going on the next book in a series I had created and I'd always found I worked better without the distractions of home. To my delight and relief, I ended up spending two fruitful hours. Not only did I reignite a passion for my story, but I also sketched out the chapter flow and did some marketing by touching base with the librarians. And, as a reward, I caught two Pokemon.
     I think I've found my motivation.

     My thanks to Gloria Adams for these tips on how to navigate your way through the jungles that are Amazon's Create Space and Ingram's Spark. It's wonderful to be able to publish your own book, but it does require some time and effort. Good luck!


Twelve Things About Self-Publishing with Ingram Spark
 
Your book is ready to publish and you’re trying to decide if you should use Create Space or Ingram Spark. All the advice I’ve read (and my own experience) says to use both. Your cost through Create Space is going to be less for ordering print copies, as well as the fact that there is no set-up fee with CS like there is with Ingram. CS is also much easier to work with. But if you get your book listed in the Ingram catalog and hopefully, Baker & Taylor (now Follett), credibility with bookstores and libraries will probably be worth the extra cost.
Here are twelve things I learned about Ingram Spark:
 

1. The tools you need and the know-how to use them are Adobe Acrobat DC and Photoshop or a good clone of Photoshop.
2. It costs $49 for set-up with Ingram, but you can recoup that if you order 50 copies for your first order. This can also include set-up for an ebook if you do it at the same time.
3. The $12 distribution fee is waived the first year.
4. There is a $1.65 handling fee added onto the cost of every book.
5. Keep your book under 200 pages, as costs per page are added after that.
6. For all information on formatting, pricing,etc., make use of the questions answered under "Help" on the toolbar after you create an account.
7. You have to use their template for the cover or they won't generate a barcode on the back. And the file you used for CS probably won’t fit the template for Ingram Spark.
8. Fonts MUST be embedded in Acrobat or the file will be rejected.
9. You can upload a new file after you have approved one, then found mistakes, but it will cost an additional $25.00.
10. Ingram will distribute to Baker and Taylor (now Follett) but they may or may not pick up your book.
11. If you don't print with Create Space first or at all, but only use Ingram, Amazon often postpones the upload of your book and says it's out of stock. To avoid that possibility, you need to use both CS and Ingram.
12. Email support is pretty good, but if you have tech questions, another good source is a Yahoo group called POD Publishers.

 
       The name Ingram and Baker & Taylor hold a lot of weight with bookstores and libraries. It may be worth the extra hassle to give Ingram a try. Good luck!
 
Gloria G. Adams,                                                                                            
www.gloriagadams.com.
Author (with Lana Wayne Koehler), Ah-Choo! –
Sterling Children’s Books
My Underpants Are Made from Plants (with Vera J. Hurst) –                   
Schoolwide, Inc.
Contributor(pseudonym) and publishing group member,
Seven Deadly Sins: Simply Delectable Stories,
Third Thursday Publishing, www.thirdthursdaypublishing.com

     This is Jack. Only five weeks old and he's already bringing books to Grandma to read. Jack obviously knows about the important things in life.
     The book Jack has chosen today is AH-CHOO!, a delightful offering in a bouncy rhyme from the talented duo of Lana Wayne Koehler and Gloria G. Adams. (Sterling Children's Books, 2016) It's a simple story of a boy in search of a pet. Creature after creature, from an Antelope to a Zebra, is brought home, but to his utter dismay, his sister is highly allergic to them all. Her sneezes are of gargantuan proportions. Of course, there's a solution, but not until an entire alphabet of animals parades across the pages in bright, fanciful illustrations by Ken Min.
     Of course, Jack is a little too young at the moment for all the nuances in AH-CHOO!. What I can't wait for him to develop is that tingling sense of anticipation as he gets ready to let out a blast of his own--AHHHH-CHOOOO!--as the pages turn. Maybe we both will. Kids love books where they can actually participate in the story. I think that's the beauty of poetry, at least the rhyming kind. Just from hearing the end of one line, we usually have a pretty good idea of what the end of the next one is.
     Jack will also be happy to learn that one of the animals bears his name--the Xantis, which I also discovered is a form of, or another name for, a Yak. An exhaustive Google search wasn't particularly clear on the subject.
     Any book that provides education about the alphabet, a bit of zoology and a whole lot of fun, is okay in--well, in my book!