Hi Y’all! I’m back from vacation. Happy New Year to you all!!
A few interesting things happened while I was on vacation.
First, in case you missed it, my book “Okatibbee Creek” came out in paperback. Check it out on Amazon here. If you’re a Kindle fan, the Kindle version will be out in a week or so.
The interesting thing about the book release is watching the progress, which is like watching a horse race. The Amazon ratings, which are generated by some incomprehensible algorithmic computer program, shows my book jumping up and down between 60k and 380k on the best selling list. I swear it changes by 10k in the two seconds I’m looking at it. The ratings of “books released in the last 30 days” are a little more stable. I’ve been bouncing between 25 and 35 in the historical fiction category for the last week. Out of over 1000 historical fiction titles released in the last month, that’s not too bad.
Next interesting thing. I went to Biloxi, MS for a few days and found that 50% of the beachfront is still vacant since Katrina went through seven years ago, and it’s all for $ale. I didn’t know it was possible to purchase beachfront property any more, but apparently it is! And while it’s not cheap cheap, it’s still relatively affordable – about $1 million per acre. Not a bad price for beachfront. Yes, I’m thinking about it.
Next, I didn’t know New Orleans was so close to Biloxi – only an hour and a half away. So, we sauntered down to the French Quarter for an afternoon. Gumbo and Beignets!
Following our Bourbon Street party, we went up to Murfreesboro, TN to see the 150th anniversary reenactment of the battle of Stones River. It was a cold, rainy day – just like the day of the real battle 150 years ago. I walked the land where my third great grandfather died on December 31, 1862 – which happens to be a large part of my above mentioned book. The only word to describe the experience is “humbling.”
RIP Private Rice Benjamin Carpenter, 41st Mississippi Infantry, Co C.
One more picture – the REAL Okatibbee Creek!
Lori Crane 
This is so cool. I will definitely have to check out your book some more. I love historical fiction, and the fact that it is – even if in part at least – a family story makes it that much more interesting for you, as the author, but for the reader as well. I can’t get the paperback because amazon.com doesn’t ship to Canada and amazon.ca doesn’t sell it, but I would prefer to buy the kindle anyway. Look forward to reading it when it comes available on kindle.
Thanks for the encouragement, Will! It is my third great grandmother’s life story. Funny, I always wanted to write a family memoir, and I always wished I had a family memoir that had been passed down. This ended up being the story I always wanted to write and to read. The names, dates, and places are historically accurate, but the personalities are fictional. I had a lot of fun and shed a lot of tears bringing their story to life, and I still get choked up in parts of it. It’s very touching to me and I hope it is that way for the reader as well.