Spring into a good book, with links

Duffy Barkley Is Not a Dog
Duffy Barkley: Seek Well
Double Time On the oregon Trail

Today I went to Substitute teach at a grade school as I usually do, but I didn't know that one of the classrooms was reading one of my books.  as I walked toward the breakfast crowd, I found myself surrounded, and by now I expect hugs and questions, like, "who are you subbing for?" but I didn't expect

"We are reading your Oregon Trial book!" 

"I love your book."

"I like the way that you move back and forth through time"

"One boy doesn't like it,"

YES!

'One boy doesn't like it ?   One! 

In a class of over 30??

WIN!

 Several Times lately, I have had people ask me for links to the connections where my books and I can be found, So I decided that I need to do another post with some links.  As usual I wanted to sprinkle my blog with pictures, because I am a Words & Pictures kind of person.  I wonder, if my major role in life isn't to observe how beautiful things seem to me, and then record those observations in my writing, my photographs and my paintings.  I love being alive in this wonderful world, even though I have to play around in fantasy and try to create a world of my own, at the same time I am loving this one.

Dixie Goode

Amazon Author Page link:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004458ES2

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard 

Twitter link: http://twitter.com/#!/pandorasecho

Twitter # 2;  http://twitter.com/#!/DuffyBarkley 

Author Blog:  http://duffybarkley.blogspot.com/

Blog # 2:      http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/

Book Genre:  Fantasy/Young Adult

365 Project (pictures) http://365project.org/pandorasecho/profile

Redgage (pictures and links)  

http://www.redgage.com/#rf:/profile:innercontainer:dashboard.user

createspace Duffy Barkley Paperback book 1  https://www.createspace.com/3450238

"             "    " "            "        "            book 2  https://www.createspace.com/3649425

The Double Time On The Oregon Trail links

kindle book

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Time-Oregon-Trail-ebook/dp/B008G3JZB8/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341109826&sr=1-5

paperback on Createspace

https://www.createspace.com/3923513

paperback on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Time-Oregon-Trail-1/dp/1478160926/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341504499&sr=1-3&keywords=double+time+on+the+oregon+trail

 and of course you should be able to ask your local librarian or bookstore to get any of my books

So have a happy spring, and if you do read something I wrote, even if you are the one who hates it, Thank you - and BTW Book Reviews are my favorite treat to discover online.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Life has been going quickly past this school year.  I have not written as much as I would like but then again, I have not been completely away from my stories either and my real life competes with the fantasies I try to put down in book form.

 It has truly been a beautiful winter here, which is not really a good thing over the long run.  Days in the redwood coast in January and February were not supposed to be near 70 and sunny, but even though it threatens dry wells and fiery summers, I have been enjoying it and getting into the trees and to the beach

 I also went up to Eugene with my husband and while he was involved in a music festival I explored the old cemetery. Not sure why but there is an attraction to old, decaying places like decrepit barns and mossy tombstones

 Spring weather should be rainy and it finally has come but not enough yet even though my house got 10 inches of rain in 8 day.  the river spot we love should be at flood stage this time of year, 29 feet and is often over that in January, but was only 8 feet before the rain started last week, and even now only got to 19 feet before dropping back to about 13 now

 Valentine's Day is fortunately not just for couples.  I never see my music teacher husband on Valentine's day as he is in the next town up delivering Valen-tunes - but there are many people I love and so Valentine's day is a reminder that every day, my life is blessed by a multitude of good people

It is a full moon valentine's day but the rain is blessing us heavily and therefore I can't see it, so instead here is a simple painting I did my freshman year of college.

Now enough avoiding the novel. Going to open that document and figure out why Duffy Barkley is marooned on an Island and refusing to move forward

When ideas are offered as gifts

I don't know why I didn't think of asking you this before. It's a question that has really bothered me but . . . sometimes the brain overlooks the obvious.  It is a question that has to do with talking about your writing as it is a work in progress, and having other people, either in person or on line, offer you suggestions and ideas which feel perfect.

Then when you use the idea and flesh it out in your story, do you really own it?

Anyway, while my two boys were in grade school, playing youth sport soccer we'd spend a lot of time at the park and to pass the time with the one who wasn't practicing at that time, I'd tell stories and they'd add challenging ideas and a few years later they had developed into my first NaNoWriMo Novel which I published through createspace and kindle. 

But in one of those soccer side, story sessions one of their friends was there listening, and got really into it, and told me to use a character he made up. She was perfect and fit so well and I drilled him on wether he had seen her in a game or book or movie and he swore he made her up just then. Well it was five years later when I took his basic framework and used her as a minor character, but her name was perfect and she seemed so well imagined, I was always afraid he'd stollen her from somewhere. So has anyone heard of

Miskva, Guardian of the singing trees of belle island, who is a seer of prophecy and riddles in a giant but broken pyramid that came into the world as it was being created.

Any manga creation or TV show come to mind, a game or movie or comic book? I'm pretty sure it's a case of can't be too similar the way I created her story from the bare outline above but still I'm curious.  I even had people run her through plagiarism testers and they came back clean, that it hadn't been used in any book - which of course shows how many people have read Duffy Barkley is Not a Dog, because she was used in both my Duffy Books and they are out there.

 I'm remembering this kid was into Star Wars but wasn't allowed to read Tolkien due to parent's religion and ideas about wizards being evil. He loved some card collecting game but it wasn't Pokemon because that also was taboo. He was home schooled so the kids only knew him through soccer and we've lost touch or I'd ask him again

You know I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt using ideas from the NaNoWriMo Website challenge thread too, like it is somehow wrong even though those challenges are put up with the intent that people would use them, but I've incorporated a baby dragon who gets sick in water and loves baths and is named Fred. That was on the nano site forums dare thread, telling anyone who thought they could, to incorporate him into the story, but I don't even know who suggested it, to thank them in my notes.