QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

Legendary Author/Legendary Readers

Pepper Festival Sept 2023

My latest festival was the two-day Pepper Musical Festival: I wore my taco socks and used my chili pepper apron to spice up my table.  I expected to see a pepper eating contest or some  reason for the event to be the Pepper Festival, but as far as I know, it was the Pepper Festival just because.

You might have noticed that we finally realized that putting up the side panels on our tent helped block the sun. We also remembered to charge the fan the night before. For some unexplainable reason, I forgot all my tablecloths except for one small, white one. Walmart to the rescue! We found the cheap (yay!), green vinyl tablecloth that is now my favorite.  I love a bargain!

The vendor sites were spacious because of the large field where the event was hosted; we didn’t feel crowded at all and had a perfect location for our booth. The stage for the bands and the bleachers were in front of our site with an open, spacious, grassy area between us.

The two-day event was a challenge because the festival lasted until ten o’clock both nights, but Friday night was a blast. The headliner band played Hispanic music, and the area in front of us was filled with families. In addition to our  all time favorite music from the southwest, we had live entertainment as the children chased each other and rolled in the grass, and the toddlers bounced to the music.  We enjoyed an impromptu wrestling match between preteen boys that could have rivaled any high school wrestling team for style and technique.

Saturday was exhausting. We had to take our books back to the campground Friday night then haul them back to the event on Saturday morning because books and morning dew don’t mix; however, our campground was less than ten minutes away, which was a wonderful bonus.

A young, local police officer entertained himself most of Saturday by stopping by my booth and teasing me about some imaginary flaw in one of my books. He brought  a group of other police officers and firefighters to my booth to show them my fan then expounded on the imaginary flaw. I told him he was fired as my public relations manager, and his buddies roared with laughter.

The Saturday night crowd was mostly teenagers who were there to see and be seen. They were entertaining enough to watch, but they couldn’t come close to  the bouncing toddlers. The headliner music was not their type of music or ours either. Adults sat on the bleachers and politely applauded; it must have been their type of music.

The most amazing sight of all on Saturday night was the number of food trucks that magically appeared; everyone we saw was eating something!

We quietly packed our things and left at nine o’clock.  In theory, we won’t be invited back as vendors because we left before ten, but we’re okay with that. Our campground was great, and we had a terrific time; we’ll go back next year to camp at the great campground,  shout out to you, Tifton KOA Journey,  and enjoy the Friday night music and entertainment.

Will we consider another two-day event? It depends…

Remember the pesky police officer? The police chief stopped by my booth later and told me I was a legend.  Legendary Author: should I add that to my biography?

You know who reads the works of a Legendary Author, don’t you?

Legendary Readers: readers who  form theories based on clues and stray, almost random, hints the author leaves along the way in the story. That’s you, isn’t it?

How’s this for a new tagline?

The Legendary Author Who Writes for Legendary Readers.

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QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

When the Wind Blows…

When the wind blows Jun 2023 smaller

Everybody knows that trees shouldn’t be planted too close to a house. When a particularly vicious storm roared through our area this summer, the wind took down a gigantic oak tree that was in the woods behind our house.

The good news is that the gigantic oak tree fell away from the house. Even though the tree was in the woods, the root ball was so large  that it took our chain link fence with it!  An interesting fact is that people who lived in the county south of us didn’t know anything about our severe storm, so I’m positive you didn’t either.

We lived in New Mexico for a number of years where everybody knows about dust storms and tumbleweeds, but I didn’t know about the severe dust storms that plagued Arizona until part of our family moved there a few years ago.

Our oak tree and the dust storms in Arizona reminded me that there are things that only “the locals” know, especially when it comes to weather. I know about hurricanes because we lived in Florida and tornados because we lived in Texas. I also know about blizzards because we lived in Minnesota, but I’m hoping I don’t ever have a blizzard in any of the books I write because I’d get too cold. I have a very active imagination, but you knew that!

My latest novel takes place in Arizona, and my main character is from Georgia, so I knew she wouldn’t know about a ‘haboob,’ which is a word frequently used for the miles long, towering  Arizona dust storms with sand and debris. Thank goodness one of the locals told her, or it would have been my shortest novel ever!

What is it that “everybody knows” where you live that a newcomer wouldn’t know? I’m always looking for a weather story I can use in a book!

Interested in reading a book that takes place in Arizona?

Bloodshed in the Badlands Cover April 24 2023

Wren’s new writing assignment, a haunted campground in Arizona, is perfect except for the killer who wants her dead.

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You keep reading; I’ll keep writing! 

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