Battle Lake

On Saturday, my friend Christine, my son, Xander (little man with the barbed wire tattoo on the left), and I all road-tripped to Battle Lake, Minnesota. My goal was to drop off gift bags with review copies of May Day to all the local businesses. The Village Apothecary is already carrying it, and they sold out of their first 20 copies quickly, so yay! One Fine Day, the local coffee/gift shop (and the place I got the kernel of the idea for the fictional Fortune Cafe in the Murder by Month series), will now be carrying it, as will the art gallery. The deal with the art gallery is that I have to volunteer there four days this summer as a trade-off, which is just fine because it's important to me to support the arts and the community. Or, I have a crush on the pharmacist (he's cute, funny, AND has troughs of Valium--it's always good to make new friends), and his business is just up the street from the gallery.

Also, Xanadu Island Bed and Breakfast, the inspiration for the fictionalized lost diamond mystery in June Bug, has requested a review copy of May Day. They're thinking of slapping their resort's information in the front cover and selling copies in their gift store. What a fantastic way for them to spread the word about their great resort, eh? Next time you're in the Battle Lake area, check out Xanadu. It's everything they promise.

In more good news, the Praire Renaissance Cultural Center in Morris, Minnesota, will soon be carrying May Day. I am amazed (and happy) at all the support out there for Minnesota artists!

And here's my parting thought for the day, via a fellow teacher whose students gave a presentation on whether or not sexual education should be offered in high schools (yes, some people believe it is debatable). From a student arguing that sex ed should NOT be taught in high schools: "It's human nature, so why do we have to talk about it?!?" Hee hee. I love that. It's so Minnesotan.