HOLLY WILD: Keeps Me Hoppin' With Books 3,4, & 5

HOLLY WILD (Book 3) Packing for the Porkies!

After months of struggle, revising and reworking, book 3 of Holly Wild's adventures is out! Well, almost. The first 50 copies sold out and the 1,000 offset books are due next week. Yes, it is akin to childbirth. I call, write and nag the printer daily then weekly (prenatal visits) to make sure it is all good, all right, all done the way it should be. Cut the cord already, Lori! Now I wait to receive those babies, swaddled in corrugated cardboard. The due date, November 4th. An early birthday present to me!

Speaking of swaddle! Books 1,2 & 3 will be bundled in a designer Holly Wild bandana at holiday shows this year. Check my site for show dates if interested. http://www.loritaylorart.com/FieldNotesArt.html. The bandanas come in Lake Michigan Blue, Porcupine Mountain Green, Beaver Island Red and Kenny Orange!

Available! http://www.loritaylorart.com/Publications.html

What next Lori? Write Book 4 of course! I have not yet settled on a permanent title, nor told my editor-in-chief and chief-cook-and-chicken-washer, Marie Rust, about my title. I am a corn-aholic. So they say-- my editors, business partners and house mates, Lisa and Marie. I am corny. "But kids love it, so they say," I say.

OK, Lori, can the corn. What's the title? Give us a hint! So you ask. OK. Here goes. HOLLY WILD: (Book 4)...Questpedition for the Holly Grail. Tah-dah! Drum-roll. Corny? Funny? Enticing? I hope so. But let me know your thoughts and opinions oh, valued and patient reader of my blog. Please!

Looking back--yesterday--it amazes me just how quickly I put the first rough draft together. Two weeks! (I call this my MiGraFiTWeNo!--or in corn-ish--my Mid-grade Fiction Two Week Novel) Of course, this is so because the characters are known, they are family, and are ever present in my mind. Some old and some new will trot through the book as in the past three. This book was fun to write and intuitive and a bit different in plot--a quest. Holly and her Team are wrapping up the summer. It has been three weeks on the road and now they must return home--after receiving devastating news. But first they head east into the U.P. before hitting the bridge and the dreaded South I-75 sign, shudder, and become 'trolls' once again. Full circle. Wrap up. (Book 1-5 will be the Holly Summer Pack!)

The characters T and Sie take a more prominent roll on the stage in this one. The three blend so well and play off each other so superbly in the first and second book that they all needed to come back big time in this one. And for good reason. Ah, mystery.

It wrote quickly because we just returned from Tahquamenon Falls a few weeks ago. My mind observing and absorbing the area to bring it home and into the laptop. I see Holly changing and maturing through this book. So different from the first. In fact, I have an exhibit at the Riverside Arts Center Gallery this month in Ypsilanti. I have my writing a and illustrating process out in a portfolio for folks to peruse. I flip the pages and see how Holly changes. Like a real child. Like even my own granddaughter. Who wouldn't be changed after a summer like Holly had.

Which bring to mind all the parks, state and national I have been to this summer! I made a list to see where I have been because I scratch my head and think, "What did I do all summer? Right. Camped, rode a horse, camped! Here is a list if yo want to know where I have been since June! Ludington State Park (twice!), Hartwick Pines (twice!), Tahquamenon Falls (river Mouth and Lower Falls campground), Hiawatha National Forest (Flowing Well site), Manistee National Forest, Fisherman's Island, Interlochen, Beaver Island (we can call that one a big island park!) , a state park in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin, and the crown of crowns...Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. No wonder I am pooped! Everywhere I go I am always thinking, "What would Holly do?!" and it usually happens.

So while Book 4 incubates (it goes to the editor during her art show hiatus in January) on to Book 5! Holly's return to her hometown of Hayfields. The Urban Wild. A Wild 'family' reunion ensues on Belle Isle! We at Bear Track Press hope to have both books out next year by this time and then maybe start some picture books. No wonder time flies!