Interesting Things Abound

Today I have lots of tidbits. Let's start with the cover reveal and pre-order link for Stephen Tremp's upcoming release, Salem's Daughters, a paranormal mystery. A couple of my favorite genres there. Congrats to Stephen.

In more book news, some twitter link led me to this article at the Digital Reader about Walmart actually carrying a self-published book. As many of you know, chain stores like Walmart and Target sell a lot of physical books. It's always good for an author's sale to have their work on those shelves. Great news for indie authors.

If you walk into a book store, you know they have all the highly publicized books right up fronts, often with their own displays. Huffington Post but together this list of The 9 Most Talked-About Books of 2015 (So far). I'll probably read one of those for sure, maybe two.

As a charter member of IWSG, I found this post amusing and also pretty much spot on. It really is a kind of a pick up as it lists Four Things Writers Can Stop Stressing About Right Now. Does the list make sense to you.

Another interesting note was the Smithsonian Article about how scientists are excited about all the artifacts they're finding as ice melts in Yellowstone. Apparently, there are so many things appearing that they can't keep up. Ice preserves things like wool, animal hides and other things that they can't learn about from fossils.

On a fun in the neighborhood side of things, we had a rabid raccoon in the backyard. By the time our friend arrived with his gun to shoot it, the poor thing had staggered into a brush-filled woodland area beside our property and we couldn't find it. Now we're keeping an eye on all the wildlife that make their homes around us. Lots of groundhogs, a few skunks, squirrels, and the domesticated ones that often roam free. My youngest son once had to get rabies treatment for a dog bite. I wouldn't want anyone to have to through that.

I'm getting back to editing this week, a part of writing I used to dread but now it's my favorite part. My goal is to get two more books to my publisher by the end of the year so there's lots to be done.

Are you reading or have read any of those 9 books listed by Huffington? Did that article about stress relieve your mind on anything? Do you even buy books at stores like Walmart or Target? Even had a run-in with a rabid animal?

Rhyming Challenge and Wisdom

You know I like to share wisdom from my Old Farmer's Almanac planner. A few weeks ago I shared the definition of nephelococcygia which is the word for finding a shape in a cloud. As a joke, I issued a challenge to Pat Hatt at It's Rhyme Time. If you visit Pat on a regular basis, you know he throws words out there that are not in your every day vocabulary. Today Pat has picked up the glove. Hop over there and see what he came up with it. It will be good!

Some interesting news I stumbled on this week. How about this cave in Wyoming? Apparently animals fell into this death trap over the course of thousands of years. All kinds of cool but now extinct animals like mammoths landed in the bottom of this pit. Scientists expect to learn things from their DNA and even reasons why these animals went extinct and what the climate was doing during those eras.

The this week the almanac claims that blueberries slow aging. I need to eat a few more. I won't be posting tomorrow since I posted today. I'll be back on Monday. (August already.)

Do you see things in the clouds? Did you visit Pat yet? Want to know more about that cave in Wyoming? Did you have your blueberries today?