The cutest backyard garden visitor

May 13, 2025 — Have you heard of the Michigan BookHop? It’s a game where book lovers visit indie bookstores that are participating across the mitten state to win prizes. For 2025, it began April 26 and runs through May 26. 

Today, as part of the BookHop and Milan in Full Bloom, the owner of Adventure, Ink invited me to host an author table from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. I wasn’t planning on any further book events until our new picture book is published (more on that in a minute), but this sounded like fun and a good opportunity to keep my feet wet in the author event realm. Besides, their book store is very cool and worth a visit to check out their selection of books and other nifty novelties that they carry. Downtown Milan is so quaint and I hadn’t been there until getting involved with the bookstore.

Hot tip: check out Rich Grains Bakery, a fabulous find! It’s fair to say we had some of the best pastries of our lives there. One of my favorites was a vanilla cinnamon cruffin (croissant baked in a muffin pan). They also serve coffee and bake breads. 

I was recently reminded that I have a large stack of postcards that I printed about our new book and this was a great opportunity to hand some out. Also, Adventure, Ink kept a stack for their counter. I recently dropped some of these postcards off at Brewed Awakenings and my dentist’s office. I appreciate the help from local businesses who support local authors.

First, and what I’m most excited about is that illustrations for Into the Thicket, our next picture book, are expected to be finished at the end of the week! John’s making some final adjustments to them. He sent me the cover illustration last week and I am beyond excited to reveal the cover soon and announce presales, possibly by the end of May, but for sure in June.

I sold four books today, which wasn’t a bad day. I had some nice feedback too. One little girl told me that she’s read my book. “Really? Where? When?” I replied, probably a little too excitedly. It was at the Milan Library. Another woman said they have my book, they’d bought it at Adventure, Ink. And someone else said she’s seen my book at Brewed Awakenings. It was cool to hear that my book is getting around the community.

I sold a book to a young couple for their nephew and was asked to write it out to “Orion the Lion,” which is a fun inscription. A grandma purchased one for her first expected grandchild. An especially meaningful sale was to a young woman who knows nearly one-year-old twins from Afghanistan whose birthday is approaching. They were refugees and I was honored to know my book was going to them. A young father bought another book for his daughter who LOVES to read. He said she’d just come home from the library with about 30 books and how thrilled she was going to be to receive the signed copy of How Happy is a Lark? (correction: this was a service provider at our home later the same day who I gave a copy to.) 

I hope and expect that within a couple of weeks or so that I’ll do a cover reveal on my blog! The cover art is breathtaking. And I’m over the moon to see it designed with the title and our names on it soon. And to share it with you. I’ll share it on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky also.

If you’re a rabbit lover and you’re on Instagram, don’t miss a reel I published this week. I caught two of our backyard rabbits playing leapfrog and if you haven’t seen this rabbit behavior before, it’s pretty fun to watch. I think I’ll be able to use the video for some book marketing, saying that the rabbits are jumping for joy about the release of Into the Thicket, or something along those lines. I learned that it’s actually a mating behavior called cavorting.

I’ll wrap up with a sweet story about a young rabbit who visited our backyard pollinator garden last week. We had just recently cut down the dead growth from the flowers that we leave up over the winter for interest and seeds for the birds. As a result, we had a clearer view of who is in the garden. A small and cute-as-can-be rabbit (did you know they’re called kits?) ventured in and spent a long while nibbling, hopping about the garden and in and out of the thicket, hiding in the wood pile, and generally looking adorable. I ran for my camera with the large telephoto lens and had a nice, long photo shoot with my little garden visitor. This happened on the SAME DAY that John sent me the finished cover illustration. Spoiler alert, the cover features some rabbits and a setting that somewhat resembles our backyard, which backs up to woods. So, that was an extra happy (dare I say, hoppy) day! And it would seem to be another synchronous occurrence. Let’s hope it’s a good sign.

If you’re an avid reader of my blog, you know that I sometimes shout out good movie or TV we’re watching. A current favorite is Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+ starring Jon Hamm, Olivia Munn, Amanda Peet and others. It’s a dark comedy crime drama, a social satire on the ultra rich. A new episode drops every Friday night. I’d love to hear from you about anything mentioned here, including what you’re watching or reading, especially in children’s books.