School is right around the corner.  Some of you didn't want reminded of that. Have you thought about kids who are reluctant readers?  My book, The Mud Hole, is a fun book for those kids.  The chapters are short and there are "Did You Know?" facts sprinkled through out the book.

My second book is making progress toward becoming published.  I have spent a lot of time on it recently and it is getting close to being sent to the editors.  It is a sequel to "The Mud Hole" and follows more adventures of Henry and his brother Robert into the fall and winter of 1912-13.  Subscribe to my RSS feed so you don't miss out on further developments.

One of my big projects this summer has been to finish writing my next book.  I decided one book wasn't enough, so I am actually working on two new books. 

The first book picks up where "The Mud Hole" leaves off and takes Henry and Robert into winter with the Model T.  Some new adventures, but winter style. I'm still working on a title, but the first writing is complete and I am now in the editing and tweaking stages before sending it to other people for editing.

The second book I am working on is different.  It still deals with boys and cars, but it  is loosely based on my growing up and adventures I had with an old red car that was parked in the pasture behind the house.  It will be titled "The Old Red Car".  Each chapter will be a mini story by itself and will not have a plot line that continues from chapter to chapter.  I am choosing this style due to the fact that many reluctant readers have a hard time following a story from beginning to end.  By making each chapter a short story the reader will not have to remember what happened in the previous chapter in order for the story to make sense.  The first draft of this is completed and I am also  editing/tweaking it before it I have my editors take a look at it.

I have a goal to have these published within the next year.  I am not sharing my timeline at this time as setbacks do occur and I don't want to promise something by a certain date and fail to deliver.   I will keep things posted as progress is made and when things get close I will update the website with the new information.

I have now added a video to my website.  It is just my author greeting and gives you a 45 second synopsis of the book.  Enjoy!

I received a package in the mail last week from the ASK program.  The ASK program stands for Author, Specialist, Knowledge and partners Authors with classrooms in Michigan.  When the classrooms have finished reading the book they get to interview the author over closed circuit TV.   It was neat to get letters and notes from students and teachers who enjoyed the presentation I did in May for several classrooms.  Many of the kids express it is their favorite book, although I know that their opinion will change when they read the next good book, it is still fun to see they enjoyed it.

I am in the process of a major website update.  Please pardon the dust!  If you find something that doesn't look quite right is not functioning, let me know at [email protected]

The new update will allow me to update things more quickly as well as give options for booking a presentation with me.  It will also allow me to give each of my websites more of a focus instead of cramming everything into one website, but on different pages.

Go ahead, take a look around!