Busy First Week of Book Sales

Our book came out Friday. We took it to U of M Friday night for their meet against Ohio State. It was Alumni Weekend, so the stadium was packed! We were there Saturday night too for their meet against Penn State. It was such a fun weekend. We ran into lots of old pals, and sold quite a few copies of our book! We also had the book with us for sale at Holly High School on Saturday day and Sunday day at the Roseville AAU Folkstyle State Championships. It was a really, really good weekend!

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BOOKS!!!

this is little Daisy. The pups were only 3 weeks old when I got them. So sweeeet!

My how the time flies! I can't believe it's been this long since my last post. But then again, I can't believe I have 5 foster puppies running around my house right now. And I can't believe that our book is finally HERE. It looks so beautiful! Our marketing gal e-mailed me a few weeks ago and said that the director of curriculum for Garden City Schools ordered 32 copies of our book. That is so cool! And our publisher emailed yesterday and said that we have about 300 books pre ordered through them that we need to mail out. AND our big weekend is coming up at the University of Michigan. On a lucky note for us, it is Alumni Weekend, so we anticipate several thousand spectators. Hopefully the book will sell good. We have a really cool slide show presentation, and Tom had Cliff Keen make up a really cool banner for us, so we are ready to Go Blue!

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On Your Birthday

A super cool lady, Tammy Alberts, contacted me from an organization called “On Your Birthday” wanting to know more about our book and the possibility of them using copies of it for some of their gifts. I can’t wait to send her some! Here’s a link to her site. Such a great thing her organization does. And, they’re local!!!

On Your Birthday http://www.onyourbirthday.org

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Chicken Cheeks

This video is so funny. One of my SCBWI contacts sent it a few days ago. If you have time, check it out. And by the way, the book is really cute too! The illustrations are so comical and really do the text justice. Enjoy!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1892600

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Nick Jr.

I love our publisher and editor! They are so positive about our book. Our marketing girl is getting information ready for award entries, and she has sent us a copy of some press releases and other promo stuff she's working on. And, our publisher reminded us again how cool it is that they got a call from Nick Jr. wanting a copy of our book. Wonder if that will lead anywhere? I love Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon. Their website has so many fun activities for kids, and interesting things for parents too!
http://www.nickjr.com
http://www.nick.com
http://www.wrestlingtheabcs.com

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Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

this is not the actual issue cover-I was too lazy to scan mine!

So I'm a little behind the times, but I was trying to go through some of my old magazines today, and I found my winter issue of SCBWI Bulletin (The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and noticed that our Wrestling The ABCs website was listed in the bulletin. That's always a good sign! They focus only on children's literature. As soon as the book is released, they will list us again under Newly Published Authors!

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DUE Dates!

Wow have there been a lot of due dates in our family this past month. We've had four new births in our family, which is so wonderful, and our book related due date is January 15, 2009. At least that is what our publisher has it listed as on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. So...unless we hear anything different at our meeting with them tomorrow, it should be on shelves and available wherever books are sold on January 15, 2009. That date works really well for us, as that is the beginning of the youth wrestling club season. Our illustrator, Robert Lence, has also contacted us regarding a few dates that he wants to set up with us for selling, signing, promoting the book. So, things are looking as well as can be expected when you are awaiting a due date.

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Sample Cover

Our graphic designer on our book project had so many neat cover and page layouts. This is most like the one (or similar) that will be the cover for the book (both the hard and soft copies). Things are moving along as scheduled, and if all goes as planned, Tom and I will be going on the road to a big college wrestling competition in Iowa (wrestling country!) mid January. Of course things don't always go as planned, but we've got our fingers crossed!

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Sample Page

This is just one of the page layout samples that were presented to us at our meeting last week. We will be getting the dust jacket and the interior front and back spreads to look at next week. How exciting.

Our puppy beans is doing great. I'm getting a foster puppy tonight or tomorrow (just for a bit while it's "real" foster mom is on vacation).

Izzy and Logan got their report cards. Logan got all As and one B, Izzy got all As. I'm pleased!!

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Font Conference

This is a super funny and clever video that one of my writing pals sent to me. It's about 2-3 minutes long, but so worth it! Here is the link:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

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Great Meeting!

We met with our publisher and editor yesterday to go over some of the cover and interior layouts that the graphic designer had put together. We loved almost every page presented, so ended up piecemealing it all together to get a great layout.

We also decided to postpone the release date from December 2008, to January 2009 in order to broaden and lengthen our window of opportunity for awards. I had never considered this, but our publisher and editor both feel strongly about it, and also believe in our book and feel we could actually win an award or two.

Our editor wants to see if Robert would be interested in doing more illustrating for their publishing house. So...I'll approach that issue with him soon.

We got a new puppy a few weeks ago, and he has been such a great addition to our family. He's only 9 weeks old now, but seems like he's been with us forever. He fits our family like a glove.

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Meeting Today

Well, unfortunately, our meeting today was cancelled (our publisher is very sick). I do hope Marian is up and at 'em soon.

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Cats!

O.K. So this is supposed to be book related. Well... I just have to say, book related topics will be on hold for the next couple of weeks, as starting tomorrow, I am fostering a mama cat and her three babies, as well as five 2-3 week old abandoned kittens who need to be bottle fed, AND two foster puppies whom we hope to get adopted out at the "Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo" at the end of the month. Needless to say, we will be crazy for the next couple of weeks.

On a book related note, Tom and I do have a meeting on the 18th with the graphic layout designer to go over some ideas and font syles, etc.

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Reading Referee

We've added a new page on our main website, where kids can join our fanclub for free. That makes them a "Reading Referee" and they get a membership package which includes a sticker, tattoo, pencil, crayons, bookmark, reading log, coupon and certificate! It should be fun, and there are links for kids to send in artwork, book reviews, book recommendations, and more!

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University of Michigan Wrestling

Tom got a hold of this really awesome picture of him and Robert Lence together with the team. I think our publisher may use this on the back of our book also. I know Robert really wanted it to be on the book, so it probably will. There are some other familiar faces in the photo too, like Tom Canty, Tim Fagan, Bernie Knoblich, Steve Fraser and Pat McKay. If you recognize anyone you know in this photo, please email us or comment below who it is, as we will list the names we know on the back of the book under the photo.

We're still waiting to hear from the graphic layout designer about some of our ideas for the book. Can't wait. I'll post again after we get in touch with her.

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On Top of the World

We are on top of the world! We had a meeting with our publisher and editor today. They had a few last minute revisions for us to make, but we are still on schedule. Robert has finished all the final illustrations and is working on the hardcover two page spreads for front and back of book. So far, things are still on schedule for a December release date. Our publisher also mentioned that she sold some copies of our book to some educators at an intervention conference they attended last week!

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