First Official Blog post on the day that Biden wins the Presidency!

I made a promise to myself, and set it into my calendar, that I would begin writing one post a month for sure, and today is the day. I also want to congratulate Joe Biden for winning the Presidency! What a weight is off my shoulders. Yes, the Republicans still own the White House, so we all need to stand strong and fight when they try obstructionist ways like they did to Obama. We need a strong country, and under the T man, we have lost ground all over the world. The U.S. is no longer a global power, thanks to him and his cronies.

Now, onto my blog! I won't go much into my life and health, but onto my writing and crocheting items for sale. I'm also still working on my new Domain and Website here on Wix, called Books & Hooks. don't use the word "and," use the symbol when writing about this, please. I also want to tell you about upcoming plots, new writing and that I am searching for at least 2 more beta readers! Tell me why you want to be one and what, if anything, you can help me with, and I'll let you know if I pick you for one. So please, send in your requests!

I'm currently juggling projects, which isn't good. My first and foremost crochet project is 2 shark cucoon blankets, one in light gray, one in dark gray, to go to my Great Nephew David, and one for his soon due brother, William, who will be called 'Little Bill.' I'll be done with the blankets in another 2 weeks tops, then will wash them to make them clean and soft, and to check the integrity of the ends or knots. Packaging them up will be next, and packed into a box for mailing in early December. I know the Post Office will be very busy with the upcoming holiday, but I will ensure the box is tracked, at least. I may insure it as well, as the amount of money I put into these two full-adult-sized shark blankets is a pretty penny. No pics of them yet as they're still not finished, but next month I will add some in for sure. I even figured out how to make a double row of teeth! I'll get closeups of the mouths. It has (and still is,) a favorite project. My other hope is that I'll get a chance to crochet a Mermaid Tail blanket as well! The pics will be here on the website as well, and if you want to order one, I can make it to your specs. It'll be bit expensive as the hours it takes and the amount and type of yarn all figure into the cost. but think of this... you'll either have, or will be giving an entirely unique gift. Crocheted items cannot be machined, like knitting can, and each artist who crochets for others are all putting their unique touch into every item made.

Now, to the stories.

I'll be trying to figure out how to set up links to my published works on Amazon, especially for the ebooks. Out of the 12 I have published so far, only three are in paperback. this is for a variety of reasons.

One, each of the Earth Maid covers has been hand drawn, and the first artist I ever had on Fiverr who could draw, had to quit as her job was too much. I haven't found a person who could draw yet, I have one, I think, but I have to test him, and that will cost. then I can take the drawing to my new Fiverr cover creator and she can finish it off. Then I need to have the money to be able to buy a paperback to ensure it really works. I can get one for cost of print alone, which has a band around the covers showing it's not for sale. Or I can pay for one done right, I forget if I get a reduction in cost or not. That's what is preventing my ability to have paperback books for sale. Since I'm not "discovered," or have a Publisher, I'm on my own.

But I'm hoping the plots will be enough to attract people to purchase the ebooks. If you don't know what my books are about, here's a short blurb about the Earth Maid series.

Yes, you read that right, M-A-I-D, with the correct definition of "a female domestic who does cleaning or other housework in a home. (Thanks to dictionary.com, with just a few words missing.) The main protagonist is Landa Terrington, orphan, ward of the state till the age of 16. Once emancipated, she simply drops off the grid for a number of years. In an unnamed state and city, she sets up shop as an 'Aura Reader' and recycling pick up service. She's just barely content with her lot in life, which gets dealt a severe blow when an elf comes to her and opens her magickal powers to full. Landa goes into medical distress, gets taken to the nearest hospital and her life is saved. Plus, the E.R. Physician who saves her, Dr. Paul Gordon, falls in love with her. Landa will need training in how to use her powers, so a Life Teacher, called a Phalie, comes to live with her. Her training will have to be fast and hard, as there is an evil growing that is threatening not only the city but the world as well.

From there, I'm going to stop. hopefully, that's enough to interest you in getting the ebooks off Amazon.com. Search either for Taborri Walker (my author name) or type in Earth Maid 1. Hopefully my books aren't buried too deeply. I also have three other books in Amazon. Weathering Storms, From the Moon to the Multiverse and We Didn't Know it Was Haunted (when we first moved in.) I'll discuss each one later. For now, I'm catching up on some work that hasn't been touched on in way too long. Several are short story ideas for Earth Maid, (there are nine published books now, a tenth is being worked on and the aforementioned short stories.) It's taken a number of years to start getting new ideas, but they're coming now. I have them crowding in, so I'd purchased a small, portable keyboard and linked it to my large tablet. Except for during the night, if I get an idea, I open the app on my tablet, turn on the keyboard and when it syncs up, I can type a lot faster than on the keyboard on the tablet, with a lot fewer errors. I'm losing less ideas since I got this.

For now, I'll end here. It's been a pretty good day, shut up neatly in my apartment, the cold, snow and now rain shut out. Tomorrow I am venturing out, but after this I hope to figure out shop online and pickup shopping. I use the disabled bus service here and they just instuted a pick up groceries service that's free to use for over 60 years old, which I am. If I can do this, I can stay inside even more! Yay!

Hugs for everyone, best wishes for your lives too.

Patti Lisenbee (Books & Hooks)/Taborri Walker (author)