One week until launch day for my new book, A Place of Her Own. We’ve had some great pre-launch excitement. Now counting down to the first book launch party with signing and reading, music and refreshments. It’s June 1, at 1:00 pm at the ECEC library in Elkton, Oregon.
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Happy Discoveries
So, I was in Eugene yesterday putting up posters for my upcoming signing at Tsunami Books scheduled for the 21st of June. And I thought I would also stop in at a few other bookstores to tell them about my book, A Place of Her Own. I had sent postcards out to several stores, but wanted to make some personal visits. My first stop was J Michaels Books downtown on Broadway, just up from Oak Street. I went jaunting up the street, my bag in hand with the now-dog-eared copy inside, ready to pull it out and show it off.
Nice store. I casually glanced into the window at the fine display of books–and stopped. There! Right in front! My book! 
See? It’s in the lower left of the right-hand window. The cover does stand out. The medallion sort of draws the eye. Well, for me it certainly does. I’ve been enjoying that cover for a while now.
Heart pounding, I looked closer. 
What a beautiful sight to me. But had I thought to bring a camera? No. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that I have a nice little camera. I need to carry it for these wonderful surprises.
Anyway, I walked into the store, and instead of pulling out the dog-eared copy from my bag, I pulled out a business card with the book’s picture on the front. Smiling, I told the proprietor I had come in to tell him about my book, but he already had it, beautifully displayed in the window.
He smiled back and told me he also had a stack of them on the table. Ah! Words to thrill a writer’s heart!
I offered to sign them, searched for my signing pen, which took a while, given my excited state of mind and the state of my bag’s interior. He brought the stack. I found the pen, and signed.
Later, I met my daughter, who lives in Eugene. We went back to Broadway, and she took pictures.
So here I am. One of the books, now signed, is back in the window with a little tag letting prospective buyers know it’s a signed copy.
And I am one happy author.
With the one Eugene event already planned for Tsunami, I hope to schedule more in that city.
Getting the word out, one place at a time. Having fun!
Book Appearing in Stores
Since my publisher released early copies of A Place of Her Own: The Legacy of Oregon Pioneer Martha Poindexter Maupin, my book has begun appearing in Oregon stores ranging from Portland to Roseburg. The picture shows the
conspicuous placement at While Away Books in Roseburg, right in front of the door as you walk in. Nice!
A quick stroll through the Indie Bound list of independent outlets shows online listings of A Place of Her Own in bookstores across the United States, from San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and more on the west coast, to New York on the east coast, with Chicago, St. Louis, and Denver, among many more between. Wouldn’t Martha be surprised?
Perhaps the most surprising discovery shows listings in France, Germany, England, and Spain through association with information on Maupin, Oregon. Thank you, Uncle Howard. Without the influence of Howard Maupin for whom this small Eastern Oregon town was named, would these European countries even know about my book? Howard was the brother of Martha’s husband Garrett, my great-great-grandfather. And Howard does appear in my book as the colorful character he must have been.
I spent time yesterday showing off the book in bookstores and libraries, and delivering copies to places like the Douglas County Museum. Such fun! I even had to show it to people where I bought a few things for my upcoming signings. And at the dentist’s office. You know how it goes. People get to visiting, and I keep a copy in my bag now—getting a little dog eared but still looking good. The response has been terrific.
Thanks to my publisher, Globe Pequot Press (TwoDot imprint), for getting the word out in faraway places and for putting together a book with great eye appeal.
New Pages
As I head into my book launch, new pages are up and running on my blog.
First, I’ve added a “Book Clubs” page with questions and topics for discussion for the convenience of book clubs who would like to choose A Place of Her Own for 
reading in their groups.
Second, there’s an “Events” page listing upcoming events in more detail than the list on the sidebar. I’ll keep the sidebar for quick checks, but if you need more detail you’ll find it on the new page.
Third, there a “News Briefs” page where I’ll highlight news–sometimes for a quick summary of what has already been featured on a blog post, sometimes news that doesn’t necessarily warrant a blog post.
Fourth, there’s a “Review” page where I’ll post reviews in part or in full as they come in. For now, I’m offering a pre-publication comment that feels like a review to me.
All the new pages have new links from my website pages. Or you can click the links at the top of my blog or at the top of any of the new pages.
As I head into the book launch, I hope this new information will help fans to follow the process.
BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS!
Large boxes of books have arrived and are sitting in my living room. Waiting. The release date for my book is in early June, so I can’t sell them yet. But I have a launch party on Sunday afternoon, the first of June in Elkton. I had to be sure the books were here in time. My editor, Erin Turner, said she would see to it, and she did. No worries. No wondering. They’re here, ready to go.
I may be a lady of words, but I don’t know if I can find words to describe how thrilling it is to hold one of these in my hand. I’ve enjoyed many a daydream imagining it. But the reality is sweeter than I’d dreamed. I skim through the pages, and there are the words I wrote. Some came easily. Others I struggled over. What joy to see them in print—in an actual bound volume, wrapped in its beautiful cover.
And so many books! A story to share. Others can read a copy and follow Martha’s journey that touched me so deeply. I hope it will touch them too.
Heidi Thomas Book Tour
I’m delighted to introduce my friend Heidi M. Thomas, whose novel Dare to Dream has just been released by Globe Pequot Press/TwoDot, part of a trilogy about her grandmother who dreamed of being a rodeo cowgirl and went after that dream.
I met Heidi at a writers conference in Seattle, and now we share a publisher and an editor. This post is part of Heidi’s virtual book tour, so please come along and see what she has to say. Then let’s have a conversation with our comments. ~Janet
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by Heidi M. Thomas
Little did I know on the warm Montana summer afternoons I rode horseback with my grandmother when I was about 10, that I would someday be writing books about her!
Working outdoors and riding horses was Grandma’s life. She loved it more than anything, and I think she wanted to instill that love in me as well. I did enjoy it and I helped my dad round up our cattle for branding and shipping, but it was part of the “chores” of ranch life for me. It wasn’t my life’s dream.
After my grandmother died when I was 12, I was looking through photo albums with my dad, and he said, “Your grandma rode steers in rodeos, and she beat Marie Gibson (a world champion bronc rider from Montana).”
I thought that was about the coolest thing a girl could have as a memory, and I carried it around in the back of my mind for many years—until I was an adult and had years of journalistic writing under my belt. I wanted to tell my grandmother’s story, but I decided to write it as a novel, so I could explore the feelings she must have had during a time of opposition to women riding roughstock with men, of having to put her rodeo dream aside to raise a family, of moving more than 20 times during the 1930s when drought drove them from one abandoned homestead to another and finally 400 miles over steep mountain passes with their horse herd to find grass.
That first novel, Cowgirl Dreams was set in the 1920s, the sequel Follow the Dream in the 1930s, and Dare to Dream has completed the trilogy, set during the war years of the 1940s. In this new book, our heroine Nettie Moser completes her rodeo dream by mentoring two young neighbor girls in trick riding, since the national cowboy association the RAA no longer allowed women to compete in roughstock. This story is more fiction than the others, since to my knowledge my grandmother did not get into mentoring (unless you count me).
So, from that tiny tidbit of family history has come a novel trilogy (with two or three more books planned to round out the family saga) and a non-fiction book about the old-time cowgirls of Montana, Cowgirl Up!, to be released September 2 by Globe Pequot Press/TwoDot.
Little did I know…
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You can buy an autographed copy from Heidi’s website. Or buy a copy from the publisher. Or the usual on-line sites.
Good news, blog readers! Everyone who comments on this post today has a chance to win a prize. If you join the conversation you may be the winner! Please leave a comment with your (regular) T-shirt size to be placed in a drawing for a Cowgirl Up! shirt (design at right).
Tomorrow, May 7, Heidi’s blog tour host will be Brenda Whiteside. You’ll find Brenda’s blog at http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com. Heidi and Brenda will be happy to see you there.
Thank you for visiting. ~Janet
A Feature and Feedback
“I gobbled the book in one sitting, shed some real tears with and for you and Martha along the way, and enjoyed it all tremendously. You are a fine storyteller, and Martha’s story is full of such rich detail . . .”
So said Kathy Westra, a writer for the American Forestry Foundation magazine, Woodland, after reading my book, A Place of Her Own.
An email recently came to me out of the blue from Kathy. She had been assigned to write a feature story for Woodland (Photo of Autumn 2013 issue at left) about my family’s Oregon tree farm, and about A Place of Her Own, which tells the story of my great-great-grandmother Martha, who bought this farm almost 150 years ago. The foundation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., serves tree farmers across the US, and their magazine, an attractive full-color quarterly, has a nationwide circulation.
I was excited to hear from her, and we had a wonderful phone interview that lasted close to an hour and a half.
Due to her deadlines, my publisher, Globe Pequot, sent her an e-galley of the book. And the above quote is what she wrote to me after she read it. That feels a bit like my first review, and I’m smiling. 🙂
The feature story will appear in the summer issue of Woodland along with pictures. I’m a Certified Tree Farmer, like my father before me, through the American Tree Farm System of the foundation. In fact, to be recertified when I acquired the farm, I had to break away from writing the book about Martha to write a new Tree Farm Management Plan and have a qualified forester visit the property. My thanks to Rick Barnes, local timber specialist, for facilitating all that.
And now, my thanks to Kathy for her story and her positive words.
New Calves
Spring means calving time at the farm. People have marked this season of rebirth since ancient times, and I feel it here. New life stirs everywhere. It pokes up from the ground, tips tree branches, buzzes in the air, and frolics across the grass. This little guy edges closer, wondering about me.
I have come to love walking among the cows in the open field at this time of year. Except for the old milk cow we had when I was a kid, I never experienced such gentle cows. These aren’t mine. I rent pasture to a neighbor, Ed Cooley, and he tends them with care. He cordons off pasture and moves them almost daily, so he spends time with them, and they become gentle.
I can’t quite touch them. Some, especially the yearlings, will come within a foot or so of an outstretched hand, but if I try to get closer they back away. Still, they circle around me and most keep feeding, contented to have me wander among them. It’s the most peaceful feeling, as if they welcome me to share their contentment on this lovely pasture.
And of course the calves delight me. I watch the mamas. They can get protective. Once a cow chased me after I passed her on a narrow road. Nothing gets your attention quite like the rumble of hoofbeats coming up behind you. Cows are really big. Somehow instinct prevailed and I leapt aside. She butted me with a glancing blow to the rear. If I hadn’t jumped I think she’d have knocked me down and maybe run over me. But she had warned me. They give signals. Heads low, snorts, ground pawing. That cow was having trouble giving birth to a calf and it didn’t go well for her. A rare case for Ed’s cows.
I pay due respect to the mamas, but now they just look at me, curious, perhaps watchful too in return. Maybe that’s part of the thrill. I know they don’t have to be friendly, but they’re welcoming me today, letting me enjoy their presence—and their incredibly cute babies—in peace.
In this season of rebirth, new life touches me with its endearing sweetness, but also with a sense of hope that echoes across time.
Martha’s New Ribbon
Martha has a new ribbon for the cover of her book—a rich brown, like the rich dark earth. M-m-m… Or rich chocolate.
Marketing went for a bolder look for A Place of Her Own and replaced the white ribbon with the brown.
I’m liking it.
Martha probably knew a lot more about rich earth than rich chocolate. I remember when we planted our hazelnut trees in a field on the bottomland of the farm, nursery stock we got from Martha’s Lane County farm to plant on her Douglas County farm (see “The Tree Link” below). I had been gardening in a lot of marginal soils in other places I’d lived. When we dug into the ground to plant those trees, I just knelt and sifted that rich dark earth through my fingers. I had never planted anything in soil so beautiful.
And now I think I’ll go out to the kitchen and get a small piece of chocolate. Just a little nibble.
Book Launch Parties
With the pub date approaching on Martha’s book, I’m starting to schedule signings and readings.
The Country Launch
The first book launch party will be held close to home on a Sunday afternoon, June 1, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Elkton, Oregon, where I went to school as a kid. It’ll be at the Elkton Community Education Center (ECEC) library. That’s just west of Elkton—by the butterfly pavilion. A lovely venue. We’ll have refreshments, a short reading at 2 p.m., Q&A, plenty of chit-chat, and copies of my book of course, hot off the press, which I’ll happily sign.
The ECEC is always worth a stop. Besides the butterfly pavilion, there’s the reconstructed Fort Umpqua down by the river, a step into the past of Martha’s day, a café for a bite to eat, a lovely gift shop, a nature trail, flower and vegetable gardens, crops typical of the fort’s era, a plant and produce shop with offerings from the onsite gardens, and more. Elktonites are rightly proud of this unique establishment.
So if you’d like to take a Sunday afternoon jaunt for a party, books, and all that the ECEC has to offer, come on out June 1.
The City Launch
A second book launch party will be held Saturday afternoon, June 7, 1 to 3 p.m. in the city of Roseburg at the delightful While Away Books, a friendly bookstore at 932 West Harvard Avenue. They have their own small café and lots of used books at great prices, with a few new books too. It’s in the small shopping center just off Harvard (cross street is Umpqua Street) on your right a couple of blocks or so past the freeway as you head east from town—behind Subway.
We’ll have refreshments there also, reading at 2 p.m., Q&A, more chit-chat, and of course copies of my own book which I can sign for you.
This bookstore really supports local authors, so with that and the great atmosphere it’s a Roseburg gem. If you’re in the Roseburg area, come join us on the 7th of June.
Future Events
More signings are in the works—one at Tsunami Books in Eugene and one at the Douglas County Museum. I’ll post on those soon.
Events, Book News, & Reviews
In the near future I’ll be adding a new “Events” page to my blog to offer information on scheduled events, and a page for “Book News” so you can keep up with what’s going on. When reviews begin coming in I’ll add a “Reviews” page. A calendar of events is now located on the sidebar.
