VISIT BY NEW AUTHOR

Susan Vasquez just had her first book published, and our mobile home park was fortunate to be just the second group to whom she spoke.  Her novel is a mystery story, titled If the Boots Fit, and takes place in El Paso, Texas. The detective is one Grace Callado, who after working for some years for the El Paso police department, has just quit to go with her old boss in his private investigation firm.

From the blurb, “...we follow Grace as she juggles elusive clues, know-it-all colleagues, a love interest that won’t go away, and her penchant for doing things ’her way’ -- all in the quest for the truth.”

Susan is a delightful young lady (yes, I know -- I say all ladies are young) whose background admirably suits her to write this story.  Consider:  She has been a parks and recreation director, a probation officer, a parent, a teacher, Juvenile Hall teacher, Family Court mediator, and Peace Corps volunteer.  And what she originally  wanted to do, she told us, was to write for the Home Economics section of Sunset Magazine.

In her presentation to us she told how she started writing, and how she was encouraged by others.  She described the difficulties in getting the “Big Publishers” to accept ones work, and how she finally went with a local publisher who was willing to print her story.  It turns out, she told us, that publishing is becoming quite different than say 10 years ago.  With the advent of the internet, books are now published “on demand”, which means that only a very few books may be printed at one time.  This story is also available on Kindle. 

No, I haven’t read this -- yet.  Rest assured that I will.  But you can beat me to it and check it out yourself.  You can check her blog at thoughtsonretirement.com.  Have fun!


And speaking of fun --

ALL ABOUT OCEANS
By youngsters

If you are surrounded by ocean, you are on an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Mike, age 7)

Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson She's not my friend any more.
(Kylie, age 6)

My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs.
(Millie, age 6)

Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers.
(Christopher, age 7)

The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)