Welcome to my blog! Woo! Hoo!

I have a blog. And you are reading it. How cool is that? For me, anyway.

If you decide to stick around, and I hope you do, you'll soon learn something about me. I collect stories. But what's a story if you can't share it? That's what I'll be doing right here. So let's start with how this blog came about.

The pretty blonde standing to your right in my kitchen? Oh, that's Janis Thornton. She's author of Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies, a traditionally published cozy mystery. (I know, that's pretty neat). She also is author of Frankfort (Images of America) and Tipton County (Images of America).

Funny story, but not in a ha-ha kind of way. This is just the kind of thing that happens to me and I am so glad that it does. Back in December at the Indiana Historical Society Author Fair, Janis and I are both selling our books. After the event, we're standing in line in the gift shop there (which is quite nice, if you haven't been).

I'm not sure how we made a connection but we briefly chatted to find that she is a former editor of The Frankfort Times. That is a sister publication of my former (Nixon Newspapers, Inc.) and current (Paxton Media) employers, owners of The Courier-Times in New Castle.  We know some of the same people, and one of those is the mentor we both share: the  incomparable Ray Moscowitz, retired long-time Hoosier publisher and NNI editorial executive! He's a newspaperman to the core.

Janis manages Ray's social media, has assembled large projects for him, and is his trusted and talented adviser and friend, as he is hers. I told her that anyone who commands that kind of respect from Ray has my admiration.

So I became Facebook friends with Janis and picked up a Kindle version of her cozy mystery. We have shared some marketing ideas and I told her I would love to have a website / blog. So what does she say? That she will help me. Today is the day. And this is the website and blog!  How nice is she?

I could have spent a few more hours swapping newsroom stories and book tales with her but she had a luncheon date and I had a website to tweak. Hot dog! (No Frankfort pun intended but puns always happens to me too).

Before she left, we got my husband Brian (you may as well meet him, his name will pop up) to take our photo. We wanted to give Ray a shout-out. The lesson I learned today, besides a thing or two about setting up this site, is that you never know how a connection or a mentor will keep connecting and keep mentoring in unexpected ways.

You see it was Ray who brought us together today. And thanks to Ray and his talented friend Janis, I'm in business! Ray, I hope you see this. Blessings to you and continue on your road to restored health. Prayers sent your way. And thank you Janis, my new friend and adviser. We'll get together and talk shop.

To the rest of you, please fill out the box to subscribe to this blog. I'm still learning my way around this thing so maybe we'll learn together as we go.  Let's share stories, shall we?