I don’t know how it’s possible, but my calendar says Autumn—my favorite season—has arrived.*

My bank recently sent me a list of things I, as a homeowner, should do to prepare for the change of season. I love this quote: “This year, ensure peace of mind by making sure your home and property is prepared for cold weather.”

Perhaps the same should apply to Autumn Reading. Will shorter days and less yard work mean more time to read? It definitely does at my house.

Here are three tips I plan to do to prepare:

#1 – Make sure you have the right lighting for good eye health and reading comfort. I’ve found that reading on my phone is problematic for my distance vision, ie, my eyes don’t re-adjust as quickly as they did in my youth. So now, I try to read only on my Paperwhite, where I can adjust the size of the font and backlight. For print books, my bedside lamp just doesn’t cut it anymore. I need better light at the right angle, which I find in my recliner.

#2 – Creature comforts can make or break your autumn reading time. Now’s the time to launder those lovely throws and blankets you put away last spring. Maybe even invest in some new scented candles…pumpkin spice, perhaps? Are we feeling cozy? Let’s read!

#3 – Stock up on great seasonal reads. And, no, it’s never too early to read Christmas books. 😉 Might I suggest BLACK HILLS NATIVE SON, which celebrates Thanksgiving and family with a non-traditional meal of venison and chipotle cranberries.

*Obviously, this doesn’t apply to my friends in the Southern Hemisphere who are already jumping into their new and very chilly swimming pools. Right, Shelagh? 😉

Right now, I’m supposed to be at my favorite writers’ conference: NINC (Novelists, Inc), which is being held in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida.

Alas, I’m not in cross-country flying mode quite yet, but I was able to Zoom with some wonderfully creative author friends, and I came away with some great ideas on how to refresh my back list.

Step 1: new covers that better reflect the story. These are love stories, after all.

That really resonated with me because one of my favorite titles in my Black Hills Rendezvous series has underperformed its whole life. It has like two reviews on Amazon. 😟

This breaks my heart because I love the lead characters in this story so much. My hero is half-Lakota. My heroine, who fell in love with him at fifteen, has made it her life’s work to support and celebrate Native American culture—especially the Plains Peoples. My late uncle was Lakota and I spent many summers on the Lower Brule reservation with my three cousins. I was heartbroken when my parents finally confirmed that I wasn’t Native American.

So, to give this book a fresh new look—and hopefully new readership, I need your help. Please pick between Cover #1 and Cover #2. The differences are fairly minor—mostly fonts and placement, but I can’t make up my mind. I’ll draw an extra winner from the names of those who vote.

Last week's Q&A was: Have you ever attended a County/State Fair? Yes or No?

Some of your answers brought back great memories of my own Fair experiences, including the time I got to interview singer Billy Dean who was performing at the Los Banos Spring Fair.

What a class act! Handsome, humble, smart, and unpretentious! I didn’t know squat about Country music at the time, but I knew this song, which was the AMC Song of the Year in 1992: Somewhere In My Broken Heart.

Years later, he was interviewed about how the song came about. The songwriting process always intrigues me—words-AND-music! If you’re interested, here’s the video.

My two randomly selected winners this week are:

Karen Anderson
and
Karen H. (Florida)

(Karen and Karen congrats. Please email me your pick of either a $5 Starbucks or a $5 Amazon gift card.)

Q&A

This week’s Q&A: Do you have a favorite season?

(Two winners will be chosen by random drawing to receive either a $5 Starbucks gift card or a $5 Amazon gift card. Please reply the usual ways:
email or on my DebraSalonenAuthor Facebook page.

Happy reading, my friends.

Deb

Upcoming: Welcome to October and my new Series Spotlight!