Oops I Did It Again

In the immortal song lyrics of Britney Spears: “Oops, I did it again.”

With much less trepidation than the first time around, I published a second book this week. “Living With Wanda 2: Campervan Adventures Continue” is now available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook or in paperback. 

There seemed to be much fanfare with publishing my first book “Living With Wanda: Adventures in a Campervan” last year.  After days of previewing the draft, Jenni and I then spent hours selecting the cover photo and, worse yet, the color scheme for the cover.  I was so nervous pressing the “publish” button that I actually mashed it (that’s a Southern technical term for 'pressed') before I intended to do so!  If I scrolled back through thousands of pictures on my phone I could show you that the atmosphere was electrifying and we were all smiles! 

For book #2, the process was all a bit less theatrical.  Even though I had read my draft forty times as a Word document, I still made some edits when I exported it to a Kindle formatted file.  But this time around I did all the previewing in a single day.  I already had the cover photo in mind from a trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway last fall (and the confirmation from several Facebook friends back then that it would be a good image on the cover). Rather than Jenni sitting beside me and us trying seventy-two different shades of blue, and fifteen fonts, I selected an online template that looked decent, chose a color scheme that seemed to compliment my photo, and tried two fonts before selecting one.  Jenni looked over my shoulder when I was through and said “yeah, that looks good” and went back to the book she was reading.  And BOOM!  It was time to move on to writing the book jacket and wrapping up this project.  There were no photos of me pressing ‘publish’ like before; I simply worked it into a tough Wednesday morning routine between ‘rassling’ matches with an 8-month-old.

But don’t get me wrong, just because it was much easier doing the final touches doesn’t mean considerable time didn’t go into the writing, selecting stories, and reminiscing of great moments.  During one of Jenni’s final proofreading and critiquing passes through the book she remarked, “You know, it’s bad when I read something you wrote and I don’t remember it or I ask myself ‘Did that really happen? Where was I?’” Doesn’t she know by now I have photographic evidence of just about every action she has ever taken? 

The book itself picks up, more or less, where the first book ended.  In addition to short stories surrounding everyday life with our van Wanda, I provide more detail of our big trip west through twenty-two states as well as our 4,000 mile journey to the northeast and ALMOST making it into Canada.  (If you don’t know THAT story, it’s in the book!).

Some of my favorite moments captured in the book include:

• An ice cream cone in LeMars, IA that looked like Jesus, telling us it was okay to eat ice cream for breakfast
• Yellowstone (before it was a television series) and the magnificent view of Grand Prismatic Pool from a frosty overlook
• Being stopped by a Utah State Trooper on the way to sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park.
• The panic of the GPS as we neared a ferry boat in the coastal bayous of Louisiana
• Being handed yellow squash and scriptures at the local dump
• Meeting a lobsterman and WWII veteran at a lighthouse in Maine
• Eating too many second breakfasts but relishing the quest for each one

As with my typical writing style, there is plenty of sarcasm, humor, and human observations spread throughout the pages as well as enough information, and inspiration, to make you want to try a few adventures yourself.  It has over twice the stories as the first book and, of course, it has plenty mentions of our dog Annie! 

I do hope you will give it a read and, if you like it, buy individual copies for a family of twelve.  It will make a great gift for someone who is difficult to buy for--it takes the pressure off you and puts it on me, the writer! Finally, a huge thank you to all of you who purchased my first book this past year. You took a chance on me and I appreciate it.  I hope you will see that I honored that trust with my second book. 

Spread the word and I might just add you to my marketing department!