An updated biography

As some of you know, my original biography did not quite line up with reality. This was a nice way for me to hide when I first started sharing my writing publicly. I’m now starting to true up my biography with my actual, boring life — tragically empty of guinea pigs.

You can read the new version (with an earlier bio appended at the end) on the biography page on this website as well as on Goodreads and Amazon.

I’ll be updating the e-book editions with the new biography over the next few weeks, as well as future print books. However, if you’ve got your hands on an older e-book or print copy, you’ve now got a limited-edition collectible on your hands!

Thoughts about the Greywater Chronicles universe

I hope you enjoy Mistakes Were Made: a comedic romance about some of my favorite characters of all time. I wrote this book to explore the dynamics of love, friendship between women (and friendship between women and men), and what happens when adults are stuck in a location together. While the primary plot is Jules’ sweet quest for love, I thoroughly enjoyed contemplating the complexity of adult relationships when everyone is stuck together at a location — the Misty Forests recovery and adult living center.

The book doesn’t explicitly state the location or time period, but there are numerous subtle references to Portland, Oregon throughout the story. I liked the idea of pushing everything forward about 20 years to around 2035, which means today’s teenagers are the adult thirtysomething protagonists of the story. We still have mobile devices of some sort and computers for work, we operate cars (but do we drive them?), and some of my favorite Portland restaurants are still in existence. Misty Forests doesn’t actually exist, but I do have a secret location in the Portland West Hills picked out.

I quite enjoyed give Jules a career as a greywater plumber — still a little unusual now, but I like to imagine that there are many more greywater projects in 2035 and many more women working as plumbers.

There are at least three books in this world, with the second book (Best Laid Plans) becoming available later in December 2015. I so much fell in love with the characters, that I can easily imagine many more. Some of the secondary or minor characters who may need their own books include Jules’ best friend Martha and her new good friend Sue at Misty Forests. I could also see books about Jeff who runs the front desk at Misty Forests, his buddy Melody, the facility manager Neal, and the grumpy but sweet gardener. To name just a few.

How to order an e-book as a gift (Amazon instructions)

Updated June 2019 to reflect current Amazon e-book gift instructions

Physical books are awesome as gifts (and by all means, get a physical copy of my books as a gift), but sometimes people want an e-book. This can get a bit tricky, particularly if you don’t know how they read e-books.

How to purchase an Amazon e-book as a gift

  1. screen capture of the Amazon functionality to buy an e-book as a gift.Confirm they have an Amazon Kindle or want the gift of an e-book for the Kindle system, and know their personal email address.
  2. Go to Amazon and select the Kindle version of the book.
  3. As of June 2019, select the quantity and the “Buy for Others” button on the right of the book product page and follow the instructions to add a delivery date, gift message, and email address. You can also have the gift email sent to you and you can forward it on. You will need to have one-click ordering enabled.

 

There are additional details on this Amazon page (see the “Purchase Kindle Book as a Gift” second section).

Any questions? Cat at Silurian Press can help ( [email protected] ) with technical questions.

Beautiful new cover by Heldáy de la Cruz

Mistakes Were Made CoverHi everyone! I’ve finally gotten over my fall flu enough to start posting the great original artwork and designs by Heldáy de la Cruz for Mistakes Were Made: a comedic romance. I first met Heldáy when he was doing some lovely design work for Ecotrust, and he’s a great fit for helping bring the characters of the Greywater Chronicles to life.

His work always shows great heart and creativity. I’m looking forward to working with Heldáy on future covers and layout. If you need any design work yourself, be sure to contact him.

Besides designing the new cover for Mistakes Were Made, Heldáy also created images for social media and the web. Enjoy!