I seem to be going in lots of directions all at once.

Last Friday, I picked up my friend Jan Jett at 7:30 a.m. and we headed for Eugene. I delivered copies of Crossings: McCullough’s Coastal Bridges to the airport gift shop and to Smith Family Books and J. Michaels Books. Then we arrived at Willamette Oaks retirement living just in time to set up for a presentation at 11 a.m. It went very well. Then Jan and I met a friend for lunch, picked up Jan’s computer at The Mac Store, delivered books at Tsunami Books, checked to see if more were needed at the historical museum at the fairgrounds, and headed to Florence. We got back to Jan’s place in time for me to grab a snack and catch my breath before heading to the campground at Honeyman Park. There I met the ranger who helped me set up for my second PowerPoint presentation of the day. It went well in spite of some wind. Thank goodness, not too cold and no rain! I got home about 8:45 p.m. It had been a long day and about the ninth super busy day in a row. I was beat! I’m not as young as I used to be.

Saturday I felt as lively as a wet noodle, and although I ran errands, did some cleaning, and delivered books in Reedsport, I came home about 5 and crashed. Got up, ate a little dinner and went back to bed. I needed a break from book stuff.

Since I didn’t have to be anywhere for a couple days, I hunkered down and just worked in the yard. My boss at the magazines, Alicia Spooner, used to say it was my therapy. I got a lot accomplished and it felt good. As I watered, weeded, and pruned, that overwhelming feeling of I’ll never get it all done dissipated. The stress level eased.

Even though I was back on the merry-go-round by Tuesday, my attitude was back to my normal “one thing at a time” mode. I still was up til midnight getting everything done, but I had taken time to have a good dinner and watch some TV. So I didn’t feel deprived.

What’s been keeping me busy on Tuesdays is the Florence Festival of Books planning committee where as co-chair, I take notes, write up minutes and letters, and assemble lists. It takes up the better part of a day each week and sometimes a few evenings. Since the first news releases have been sent to the media, I can now get the word our here.

On October 1, at the Florence Events Center from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. will be the 1^st Annual Florence Festival of Books––an authors and publishers fair. It will be limited to the first 60 participants that send in their application and table fee ($30 for 6-foot table or $50 for 8-foot table). Applications available at FEC website. If you’ve published a book as an author or publisher, mark your calendar and plan to come. (www.eventcenter.org)

I spent all day Wednesday reading Sell Your Book on Amazon (that I bought on Amazon, naturally,) learning about and deciding how to work with Amazon and figuring out what I specifically needed to do. I was up again to midnight getting that info together and some other stuff done to be ready for a meeting with Bob Serra, publisher, and my cohort on the book Dick Smith by 9 a.m. Thursday morning. Afterwards at home, I wrote my blog. (I discovered that I can RSS it to Amazon once I get set up there.)

I also discovered, that once you write a non-fiction book, you’re considered an expert on that subject––at least by some. I’ve been asked to write a segment for The Oregon Encyclopedia about the McCullough Memorial Bridge. I was honored and said I could have it done by this Saturday, since I know the subject so well. But first, I need to familiarize myself with some of the other encyclopedia submissions and check their style guide. I need to get it done before I head to Honeyman Park Friday evening to do another campfire program.

I can’t really work on it on Saturday, cause I need to go to Eugene again. Because of all my book-related traveling these past few months, I’ve put a lot of miles on my Camry. I’ve had the car 14 years and it’s up to 135,000 miles. I usually have it serviced at the dealer every 3,000 miles, and I just realized that I’ve gone over 5,000 miles since my last appointment in March. Yikes! As soon as I realized it, I made an appointment.

Between delivering books, giving presentations, planning author/publisher fairs, learning about listing my book on Amazon, keeping up with my blog, and even writing for an encyclopedia (who’d a thunk it), I’m going every which way!

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Crossings: McCullough’s Coastal Bridges can be yours for only $24.95 plus $3.99 shipping. Order from Pacific Publishing, www.connectflorence.com    or   pacpub@oregonfast.net

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Crossings presentations by Judy:

• August 5 & 12, 7 p.m.––Honeyman State Park Campground, B Loop, Amphitheater, couple miles south of Florence

• August 10, noon––Kiwanis, Florence Elks Lodge, 1686 12^th Street, Florence

• September 8, 3 p.m.––Umpqua Discovery Center, Reedsport

Judy part of bridge celebration:

• October 1, 2–4 p.m.––Yaquina Bay Bridge 75^th Anniversary Celebration panel discussion, City Hall, Newport

Judy attending authors fairs:

• August 27, noon–3 p.m.––Bob’s Beach Books (west side just north of 17^th on Hwy 101), Lincoln City

• October 1, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.––Florence Festival of Books––authors & publishers fair, Florence Events Center, Florence (Judy leaves at noon)