Duffy Barkley's "Mom": The Post I put on the self promotion thread at NaNoWriMo

If you love Narnia and Neverland and journeys to fantasy lands, then let me tell you about myself and my Novel :)

Last year, I finished a Novel (Wow! That feels great to say that!!!)

Duffy Barkley: Seek Well

but I used my winner coupon at createspace to make a proof, 252 pages 6x 9 inches of a book that I wrote nearly 7 years ago, but up until now had only read to my family and to Junior High students.

Duffy Barkley is Not a Dog

It seemed so amazing in "Real Book" form, in my eager hands, that I re-did the proof a few times and then got brave enough to publish it back in August. I opted for the pro-plan and now it is available at createspace at

https://www.createspace.com/3450238

and through bookstores that can order it easily, and on Amazon as a paperback ($12.99) and a kindle ($6.99).

I have had the most fun, selling it at booths at local arts and crafts fairs and convincing stores and libraries to carry it. It helps you be successful to learn to love marketing your book as much as you love writing it!

Remember being with a group of friends where you felt safer and more included than you had ever felt at home, friends you had always wanted, who made you look around with a lump in your throat, wishing you could stop time? They were a lot like the groups in all the popular stories. They were the reason people love MASH, Harry Potter, Narnia, Friends, The Lord of the Rings etc. They were a group of imperfect, overwhelmed and harassed people who became winners because they didn't have to face the overwhelming odds, alone. Even in the face of dark wizards, popular girls, bad hair days or War, they had each other's back. When one of them had a weakness, another had a strength to balance it out. When one was a jerk, someone else saved the day, and forgave them eventually.

Now times are turning more difficult again. The world needs that kind of support. We need a source of encouragement so that we can find a way to be that kind of support when we are needed. As times are dark, people look for a reason to laugh, love and hope again.

Duffy Barkley is not a dog, a middle grade fantasy, gives you those friends, that escape, that voice of hope in the darkness. Duffy is alone, handicapped, desperate. He is picked-on, lost, & yet, never defeated. In the most alien of places he finds friends. In the most dire of emergencies he finds courage. In the most evil of villains he finds compassion and a solution. In giving away what he most needs, he gains everything.

Duffy, a 9 year old boy with cerebral palsy, survives tragedy in the form of a school shooting in which his younger sister is seriously injured. Falling into a new world, he regains his health but finds himself the focus of historic prophecy. While trying to deny his place in their prophecies he discovers his own abilities & changes his life & that of others in both worlds. He enjoys being physically strong but must give it up to save the villain, and find his way back to save his sister, Izzy.