Wishing, and Oprah, and Movie Rights

The holiday season is one for making and fulfilling wishes. As you wish upon a star this holiday season, what are you wishing for? Are you aiming high?

My wish is for my mystery novels, all of them of course, to hit the New York Times bestseller list. I'm not picky, a top ten spot for each of them will do. ;-)

Then, I wish for Oprah Winfrey to pick one of my titles to feature in her O Magazine.  Then I want her to interview me on her Oprah's Next Chapter show on her OWN TV network. Then I wish for the resulting furor over my writing to result in movie rights offers to come rolling into my literary agent's office. Am I wishing for too much?

I don't think so. It's only by aiming high and turning those wishes into goals that you can start working to achieve those aims.

For example, a cousin of mine wanted to be an astronaut when she was growing up. She decided that science was the path for reaching that goal and earned her Phd in Biology. She was never selected for the space program, but she became a leader of the research team at the Marucci Center for Blueberry Cranberry Research at Rutgers University that discovered the active compounds in cranberries that prevented urinary tract infections. When the work went public, she became an instant celebrity.

Would she have gone that far in her biology career without the goal of becoming an astronaut? I don't think so!

So, what are you wishing for this holiday season, and how can you turn that wish into a goal?

News Tidbits: A Bestseller List, A New Cover, Plummeting Squirrels

For the end of the workweek, here's some news tidbits.

First, Deadly Currents made it onto the May Trade Paperback Bestseller List from the Mystery Lovers Bookshop, one of the largest specialty mystery book stores in the country. And it's position was #6. Woot! Many thanks to all of my readers.

Second, Thorndike Press has released the cover art for the large-print version of Deadly Currents that will be released July 27th. You can see it HERE, and here's the Amazon page for it (which as of this writing didn't have the cover art on it yet).

Third, the plummeting squirrels. My husband and I are in our Breckenridge house for awhile, in anticipation of my Saturday, July 2nd, 3-5 PM book signing at The Next Page Bookstore in Frisco, Colorado. It will be a fundraiser for the Gore Range Chapter of Trout Unlimited. If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by and bring friends.

But, back to the plummeting squirrels.

They've managed to make a nest in the roof eaves above the sliding glass door out to the deck. They don't have a deck or porch, though, just a hole leading directly out into open air. So, every so often during the day, we'll hear a THUD as one of them falls out and drops to the deck. They always manage to shake themselves off, and with much chittering with their family members up above, eventually scamper up the side of the house back to the hole. We've been lucky that none have landed on us as we go in and out, but we'll have to BEWARE THE PLUMMETING SQUIRRELS!