Guest Blogger - Alice Duncan

Lots of magic in November, which began really nicely when I won a cover-art contest. Mind you, I’m not an artist, but a cover artist named Debi DeSantis ran a contest, the winner of which would get a custom-made cover for a book of his or her choice. And I won! Heck, I never win anything, hardly. So I decided to have Debi design a cover for an old historical romance novel of mine titled PHOEBE’S VALENTINE. Phoebe made a brief appearance as a print-on-demand book in 2003, but I decided she deserved another chance on Kindle, so winning the cover nudged me into getting the book on Kindle and Smashwords. You can see it (and even order it if you’re feeling kindly disposed) here: http://www.amazon.com/Phoebes-Valentine-ebook/dp/B004AM5OW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1291252311&sr=1-1




Shoot. That’s a long link. Still and all, Phoebe’s one of my favorite romance novels (of those I’ve written, I mean), and the cover is cool. If I could afford a Kindle, I’d buy a copy myself.



The cover art for my May novel, FALLEN ANGELS, a Mercy Allcutt mystery, also appeared in my in-box in November. If you’d like to see it, check out my web page: http://aliceduncan.net/

It’s way cool.



Then I got a partial refund from a lawyer. How often does THAT happen? It wasn’t a bunch of money, but it sure came in handy.



And then a Canadian friend and fellow author, Norah Wilson, offered to retype my older books—those I couldn’t get transferred to a readable medium—so that I can put them on Kindle and Smashwords! She started with COWBOY FOR HIRE, book #1 in the “Dream Maker” series. These books are set in Southern California in the early days of the motion-picture industry. Norah is a saint. COWBOY FOR HIRE is also available on Kindle, and I’m slowly but surely getting the other three books in the series ready to be Kindle-ized, too.



Since I was kind of on a Kindle roll, I decided to put HUNGRY SPIRITS, book #4 in my “Spirits” series, up on Kindle and Smashwords, too, so it’s now available for your any old e-book reader you might have on hand. Sheesh.



Regarding the minor down side of this magical month, physical therapy for my back (the therapist looks like Prince William. Did I already mention that?) is helping my back, but now both of my hamstring muscles hurt like crazy, and I’m afraid I’ve just traded one crippling pain for two others. Sigh.



And then I had a birthday. The less said about that, the better. But, honest to God, I wouldn’t mind getting old if it didn’t hurt so blasted much. Which brings me to my ergonomic kneeling chair. Perhaps the less said about it, the better, too. My lumbar spine is a total wreck, and I was so hoping the chair would help . . . but I can’t pull it close enough to see the computer! Sheesh. It’s always something.



Unfortunately, December started out with ghastly mayhem when my dog Louie got hit by a car. He suffered massive brain trauma and died overnight. I’m heartbroken. He was a Houdini dog, and was able to escape from anything. I tried and tried and TRIED to make my backyard Louie-proof, but he was smarter than I am and kept finding a way out. I’ll continue to rescue dachshunds (can’t seem to help myself), but every now and then one will come along that absolutely captures my heart, and Louie was one of those. He’s probably my second-favorite hound dog of all time. And now he’s gone, and I can’t seem to stop crying. Nuts. If you’d like to see pics of Louie, he’s on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1074293388&ref=sgm