Family reunion on the Yellowstone

We are enjoying a family reunion on the Yellowstone River about 35 miles north of the park. There have been 45 of us (all our descendants, plus various spouses) in a lovely ranch house this week. The days have been sunny and warm, the evenings cool - couldn't be better. Today we are tubing down the Yellowstone. The families will use a calm stretch for a 'float' of about 2 hours. Then in the afternoon the more athletic among us will do a 'bumpy' ride down some white water. I'd recommend this vacation site to anyone. Contact me if you would like to find out more about this vacation rental. I'm going to write a review for the owners so others will know it's a great place.

Interestingly, we're not far - only a few hours - from Triple Divide itself!

Sites like this inspire me to write stories. What would my character do here? What trouble would Sharlie or Sissy get themselves into, what romance would Annie Skye find here, musical or otherwise? What would Sally do and who would she rescue? Or maybe there's a new character I haven't met yet. There's nothing like a rugged setting and rapidly changing conditions to stimulate those story juices.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to No Adventures Today. As the grandmother of this clan, the Grammy of all of them, I look forward to a calm float with maybe just a few bumps into a grandchild here and there. I'm fine to have the adrenalin limited to my characters - leave my grandkids alone!

We'll see, we'll see. The only thing we know is that there will be surprises.

Haymarket Square: My first real trip there

Back in about 1972 I took my three very small children to Haymarket on the subway on a Saturday morning.

That was quite an adventure.

First there was keeping track of them, ages 6, 4, and 2, while I shopped. I was looking for bargains on veggies, which didn't fascinate them in the least. So they grew bored, whined, wandered....

And then there was the issue of carrying all I bought in the big cloth bags I'd brought.

And it was a rather hot day, and a crowded one.

It had taken us probably 40 minutes to get to Haymarket on the Green Line from the parking lot at Riverside. And of course it would take us that long to get back. And after half an hour the children were very tired of it in every way.

I had expected to scout around much more. But it was not to be. I gave up and we started off toward the Haymarket subway stop.

It took forever to get there! I had to carry bags loaded with all the veggies I had succumbed to, and some bread, and the two year old. And I recall having to drag, herd, and otherwise 'encourage' the other two. And I was hot. And we were all hungry.

Finally we made it to the stop, and through the turnstile, and down the stairs, and after a long wait onto the Riverside train, one of many branches of the Green Line.

We made it to the car, we made it home, we had far too many veggies.... Or else I probably wouldn't remember it all now, 40 years later.

Haymarket: A Sharley Adventure is a tribute to that Haymarket day. Her's ends very differently from ours, as you will see. Download it to your device - it's free - and leave a comment here. It will help make the next Sharley adventure better.

And meanwhile, since "Haymarket" is only a few pages long, you might like to read Triple Divide, a novel about an adventure Sharley had as she was entering her teen years.

Comments about Triple Divide

After I posted on Facebook that Triple Divide was a story about two girls, their mom, and hiking in Glacier National Park, I got this comment. Do you agree?

I beg to differ. It's about grief, and restructuring a family after a death. It's about family relationships and coming of age much too young. Posted by Elizabeth Adams Reeves, author of several indie books.


And Bobbie Stasey wrote this:

Did this happen to you? And to your sister? Did you dad die when you were 12? If not, you did a terrific job making up all the metaphors for grief and loss. Oldest sibling taking care of mom and the kid, learning how to cook, etc. And the hiking, forcing all three to learn how to be self-sufficient, of just placing one foot in front of the other to carry on. And the obscure friend with the divorced mom who just could not be there for her. And the reference to "what if we lost the only parent we have?" All these deeper meanings for a young person to identify with, a person with only one parent.


The answer to this is no, this isn't my life story.

Triple Divide IS a story about two girls and their mom and hiking at Glacier National Park. And it is about grief and overcoming it and a young woman taking on the role of fixing things too early. And most of that is not autobiographical. That's what I think.

What I want to know is what you think. What is Triple Divide about to you? Or your daughter? Or the two of you together? I'll be happy to share your comments, with permission. Thanks for sharing! Peg

What's your 99 cents worth?

Now that we don't have to concern ourselves with the cost of covers and printing and the use of trees (for paper) and oil (for ink) or the profit motive of large publishers, what sets the price of a book?

The answer I've come up with so far reminds me of how I felt when I was a young teen who wanted a summer job. I had to have experience or they wouldn't consider hiring me, and how was I to get experience if they didn't hire me?

Names sell. A reputation as an author who delivers something worth writing makes a huge difference in who will buy and therefore the price a book can be sold for.

I agree with that. With so many great books to read, why would I want to spend time reading something awful?

At the same time, I as a new indie author don't have that reputation to lean on.

And it shows. Triple Divide, so far my one and only indie-published book (but not my only book), has sold six copies in a week.

(I wrote a book on space with my space-guy husband John S Lewis in about 1989. It's hard to connect the two, so I don't try.)

I set the price at $2.99 when Triple Divide first came out. Then I started reading that 99 cents would get me so many more sales, since I was unknown, that that's where I should start, until it caught on.

Ninety-nine cents? For my 10 years of effort to get this book out the door?

We'll see, because I'm going to try it. We'll be on vacation for a few weeks, and it might as well be working for me. That is, the book had better be out there doing its best while I'm gone.

I actually love the fact that there's a lot of competition in the indie-publishing world. Better and better books will come of it. But right now I'm one of the invisible authors with an invisible book. The challenge is to make that change, somehow. And I hope that somehow has to do with its value as a book worth reading.

Two reviewers think it is. If you read Triple Divide, please leave your opinion about it at Amazon on this page, and THANKS! (Be sure you do the same for other indie authors, too.)

So right now Triple Divide costs 99 cents on Amazon. What's it worth? You tell me.

Maybe someday I can sell it for $4.99! Maybe even $5.99! Compared to the cost of a book you can hold in your hands, that's very little. With a physical (non-Kindle / non-e-reader) book, you are paying for paper, ink, and profits of a large publishing house. Give indies a try. Vote with your 99 cents, and throw your own 2 cents as a reader through a quick comment or review on Amazon. Let the great new indie authors have a chance to build their names so the good ones rise to the top. THANKS!