I have a new book out. A little one. It’s about a bunny who takes forever to get ready in the morning which may or may not be inspired by some little person in my life. Bug got a kick out of it. Your kids might like it too.

It’s not the SAJ in Paris book I’ve been talking about since December. I’m struggling with that one. I haven’t even hammered out the plot which is kind of sad. But since throwing together a bunch of valentine illustrations was so successful this last February, my publisher challenged me to make four books a month. FOUR!!! I could pay my bills and move back to the beach, she said. I don’t think I can make four books a month but I can try and these super simple ones are pretty easy to make.

So go download it. Tell me what you think. Maybe leave a good review for me, if you’re the reviewing sort.

Speaking of reviews, I got some bad ones. Not terrible but you know how it is. Not everyone is going to love you and it’s part of the formula for success etc etc…However, some of the reviews critics were right. A few people complained that they were disappointed when they bought my alphabet book and my colors book and there was no secret agent in them. I had to agree with them. I never meant to false advertise. I just have been Secret Agent Josephine so long here I assumed that’s what the books should be known as. I put SAJ on the cover and didn’t even think about it.

The good news is: there’s a market for secret agent stories so I better get on that! And because these books are self-published electronically one at a time, I don’t have boxes and boxes of rejected books sitting in some storage unit. In fact, with some tweaks I made two new covers that were less misleading and my publisher uploaded them to Amazon. Unfortunately the print versions can’t change (legal issues with Amazon) without uploading a whole new book but the ebooks can. It was mostly the ebook readers complaining anyway, so maybe this will make them happier.

I present to you my two new covers for ABC’s and Colors. Same book, new cover. If you downloaded it before you should be able to download the new version for free.

ABC’s Colors

I forgot to tell you guys I have a free book out today!! (How could I forget something like that? I don’t know!!!) It’s basically a bunch of my Valentine art all in one place that you can download on your Kindle or phone (if you have the kindle app) and you can share with your sweetheart. Kinda like a little “phonetine”. Wouldn’t it be fun to send this to your sweetheart as a gift of maybe cuddle up with your kiddos on Valentine’s Day and read it to them? I think so. Anyway, it’s FREE until midnight tonight! So if you want it, get on it! Free is totally worth figuring out how a Kindle app works. And while you’re at it, if you figure it out, leave me a review! :) xoxo!

First stop: A girl and a boy! My good old friend Leah! I love her so much. I’m sure you will too if you don’t already. She’s posting my first top secret craft too. Click on over stealthy friends!

For those of you like to play along there will be a special spy sentence hidden in each blog post along the 26 blog tour. If you can find all 26 sentences, we have a special stealthy prize for you!

I know there is a big debate over phonics vs. sight words and I don’t really want to get into that but at Bug’s school they teach a combination of some sort that seems to be working! It’s so delightful to watch her figure things out. She’s sounding out words off signs as we drive down the street and I totally remember doing that myself at her age. It’s such an exciting time.

Anyway, she wanted to show you guys how she can read these days. It’s only a matter of time before she’s demanding her own vlog posts.

The time has come! I finally finished SAJ Numbers and now I get to schedule a little virtual book tour. You might have thought I was going to come to your town and set up a little table and hand out cupcakes. I wish I was. Bug has perfected her signature and everything. I might do that locally but I’m not big enough to travel quite yet. But it could happen. I just need your help.

What I need right now are 26-30 bloggers who would be willing to host a little book tour for me. Just one post. There will be prizes, crafts and even a secret clue game. It’s going to be fun and don’t worry, I’ll do all the hard work for you. I will have a press release ready that you can just copy and paste blurbs from or you can interview me OR you can host a little craft that I will set up for you with printables!! It will be fun! You’ll be part of a tour with some other big bloggers (I’m calling in favors from all my old-school blogging buddies from way back) so you’ll get a lot of traffic to your site (at least that’s my evil plan anyway) because everyone will have to find the secret clue in each blog post.

Is this a mission you would like to accept? Email me and we’ll set up a date.

Numbers will drop November 15th just in time for the Kindle Fire (so you can see it in color!) The other books are already out but don’t buy them or pimp them now because I want everyone to make a big fuss on the 20th so it will get a better chance to rise to the top of the book charts and hopefully stay there if it gets good exposure. This is the strategy.

But between you and me, it’s my next book I’m excited about. The one I haven’t written yet: SAJ goes to Paris. I’m giving myself a year to illustrate it and it’s going to be full scenes instead of just illustrations on white. I’ve got a taste for this book-making business and I’m really excited about it. Maybe you’ll join me?

I keep telling myself I need to get in the habit of writing every day about the little things instead of waiting for big things to happen and then documenting them as if I’m writing a book report on my life. But days slip by as they are wont to do and my great ideas on blogging are in vain. As usual.

So here are the big things:

Bug has a two-wheeler! She inherited SuperChic’s old bike. My mom had it sitting around at her house and a neighbor offered to fix it (flat tire, stripped screws where the training wheels needed to go…it just needed a major tune-up) so my mom paid her neighbor and now we have a new bike that is old but totally cool because I didn’t shell out a buncha bucks at Walmart or somewhere even more expensive.

Recycling at it’s best! Bug totally loves it and it has not even crossed her mind that I could have bought her a shiny new Hello Kitty bike for only five hundred some bazingas. Rusty princesses for the win! Actually, it’s not that rusty, so don’t worry about Tetanus or anything. I know somebody out there was worried about that. They don’t call me a seasoned blogger for nothing.

She’s still a little bit wobbly and scared to death of how the whole bike shifts from left to right when she moves her weight from one training wheel to the other but I have no fear that before long she’ll be whizzing around faster than I can yell at her to slow down. Right now I’m thankful for her fear. Even though we live on the American Dream cul-de-sac, I have nightmares about her getting run over by some crazy moron driving down our street too fast. So we are proceeding with the bike-riding with utmost caution. If she takes all year to learn I’ll be a happy momma. But considering how long she took to learn how to scooter I think she’ll be out of training wheels by next week. Sheesh.

I just wish she’d slow down with this growing-up business!

Did you notice her dark blue corduroy jumper? If you read my post about Bug loving hand-me-downs over on my review blog, you’ll have to chuckle at this outfit. It’s Rapunzel’s from ten years ago. I never expected Bug to like it and I almost tossed it in the goodwill box when I was going through old clothes, except she pulled it out and begged to wear it. Shows you what I know.

You know why Bug likes it? Because she thought the red ladybugs at the bottom were red spotted mushrooms from Mario Brothers Mushroom Kingdom. How does my kid know about that? We don’t have Nintendo. It’s not the 80′s. I guess in today’s world all red spotted mushrooms mean super fun musical games or something. Go figure. And yes, she was a bit disappointed when I pointed out that the red mushrooms had black heads and antennae. But she still wore it anyway.

Next big thing:

My Grandma turned 85 on Wednesday. EIGHTY-FIVE!!! How is this possible? It’s really true that when you pass thirty time speeds up to warp speed. I hate the fact that I’m being so clichéd* and moaning about it. But it’s true. My Grandma is so full of vim and vigor, I’m not ready for her to be old and frail. She’s taking it gracefully though. If ever there was someone to emulate, it is my Grandma. I want to be just like her when I grow up—which should be in about five minutes by my calculations.

So we went over to her house for dinner because that is all she really wants. Material presents are not important, just spending time with family is what she really enjoys. Good thing too because I am the worst at remembering to buy thoughtful gifts when I am navigating motherhood at warp speed. Actually, I think I was bad at remembering to buy thoughtful gifts even when I was young and bored but that is neither here nor there. The important thing is that we were all together and it was super sweet.

My Aunt Keren thought Grandma would enjoy some kitten-time so my mom brought over all six kittens that she has right now. She’s babysitting my kittens until they find homes since my carpet is freshly clean and she has wood floors and she has three other kittens from a feral cat who abandoned them in her yard. Isn’t my mom nice? Yes. And I’m really trying hard not to take her for granted. By the way, five of those kittens have good loving homes and now there is only one left! Phew!

Anyway back to Grandma and the kittens. It was so sweet! The little black one curled up on her chest and slept there for a half an hour. It was adorable and I think Grandma enjoyed it but then one of her eyes started turning red and itchy so we removed the kittens and decided Grandma might be allergic to the adorable little fluff-balls. It was fun while it lasted though.

We also had root vegetables, which we all love. Best dinner EVER. It was like old times. We missed you, Aunt Kathy.

Last big thing:

I found a trench coat at Target. You guys thought I already had one didn’t you? Nope, I didn’t. I never have. It doesn’t rain here, what do I need a trench coat for? Streaking? Hah! Like that’s gonna happen. It’s all part of my made-up Secret Agent Josephine character in my head. She doesn’t have a double chin either. Bet you never noticed that. Oh you did? Blarg. Well, she’s my made-up character so I felt inclined to improve her. Them’s the perks of being an illustrator. I can draw myself any way I want to be. Be all that you can be!

Stupidly, I got rid of my knee high black boots a while back because I didn’t like the pointy heel so I will probably be investing in some new boots soon. I’m so glad that pointy-heel-pointy-toe trend is over. But knowing me, by the time I get around to shopping for some again will be back in full force. I hate fashion sometimes.

But who cares about that! How funny is Bug? She’s the best model ever. I hate to exploit her cuteness on this blog but as you can see she steals the show without even trying.

So here we are in our official garb looking so very spyish. It’s almost like we didn’t just throw on some trench coats over our sundresses and pull an impromptu photo shoot in our driveway with the neighbor who actually doesn’t know how to use my camera but did a pretty good job anyway! It’s almost good enough to put in the back of my books as my author shot I think! In fact, I think I will just do that.

Keep calm and spy on, Secret Agents!

* That d is for you, Bethany.

Yesterday was Bug’s first day of kindergarten. It was a huge deal for us. I posted some photos over at Alpha+Mom of our little before school photo session. (There’s also a FREE printable and the chance to win $100 from Target. Cha-ching! You might want to click over.)

So far she seems to like school. Her teacher is super nice and understandably a bit overwhelmed. There are 31 students in her class! Yikes.

This is all Bug has had to share with me so far:

1. The other kids thought the banana bread muffin I packed for her snack was funny. Apparently home-baked goods are not in style.
2. Milk comes in a bag that you poke with a straw and it doesn’t even spill!
3. They sit on a rainbow carpet and Bug sits on orange. This is very important.
4. She doesn’t remember her new friend’s name. But she likes blue!
5. She really needs to pack blue juice next time so the boys think she is cool.
6. Her teacher reads stories and does all the voices. (huge win)
7. I really need to fix the handle on her Hello Kitty lunchbox. It broke.

And that’s all she shared! So far so good. I didn’t know there would be so much peer pressure over what I packed for lunch but I think I can roll with it. I might have to pull out some mad bento box skillz.

Big news today! Two of the kittens have opened their eyes. The big gray curly-furred one and Bessie.

There are five kittens: a big gray furry one that looks like it has curly fur, one that has gray and white markings that we are calling Bessie because she looks like she has cow spots, one all gray one that is the runt of the litter and two others that are mostly gray but have some white markings. One has a white spot on it’s nose and that is the one Bug wants to keep. She’s named it Shylie. I wanted to name whatever kitten we kept Fiesta or Dos or Gato or something but Bug has spoken and I’m inclined to let her pick the name of the cat she will most likely call hers.

Bessie.

Shylie. I guess he’s shy maybe.

And of course the mama cat, Aqui. She looks a little pissed off in these pictures but she’s actually purring up a storm. We always make a point of petting her a lot when we visit the kittens so she doesn’t get jealous.

Motherhood is so glamourous.

p.s. All photos taken by Bethany except the last one.

Her name is Aqui. She’s the neighbor’s cat but she lives at my house. We don’t know why her name is Aqui but it seems to fit her because in Spanish “aqui” means “here” and she is always here. Also when you call her, “Here A-qui, Aqui, Aqui! it sounds an awful lot like “Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!” So there’s that.

I didn’t mean to have a cat. As you know. I’m over cats but of course I have a soft spot for them and when she was always around begging for food because the neighbor was gone, I started feeding her. Then I noticed that she was getting really fat. First I thought it was worms, then I thought maybe I was feeding her too much and now I’m 99% sure that she is pregnant. Which is really sad and scary because she’s really still a kitten herself.

She gets along with Holly and she stays outside which is key because I am soooo over cat boxes. I don’t care if I never ever ever see a catbox again. I’m sure at some point in her life I’ll let her in but right now she’s content to sleep the day away on my patio. She doesn’t even want to come in and believe me, the kids have tried to coax her.

She seems very happy.

I was so worried about her and her giant belly I finally asked my neighbor if I could take her to the vet and my neighbor said “Sure, she’s your cat now. She’s always over at your place anyway.”

So there you go. I have a cat. And I love her already.

As a lot of you know, I’ve been reading Rachel Devinish Ford’s novel, The Eve Tree and I finally completed it last week at the beach. It was such a good read! It took me a bit longer to read than the other bloggers who are reviewing it, not because it wasn’t good but because my life has been a little stuffed to capacity lately. Anyway, I was really captivated by the story and wanted to know more about the characters. So when Rachel offered to do a guest post here on Secret Agent Josephine, I jumped at the chance and asked her to tell us what inspired her. Her drive is contagious. It makes me want to go write a book myself! Or just sit here and illustrate the two books I’m already supposed to be working on.

So please enjoy these words from Rachel! She’s someone to watch and follow. Her journeys are awakening.

Brenda asked me to share a little about where I got the inspiration for The Eve Tree, and how I came to write it. And I thought I’d start at the very beginning.

The book itself is very much like a tree. There was a seed and there were roots, and then the tree grew. I had to chop some branches off, when they were blocking the road or growing into the gutter, and that was hard to do, but in the end, the tree was healthier. It had a lovelier shape.

Back to the seed. The Eve Tree started with a tiny idea. I was already writing a novel at the time, but I was nervous about it, because the idea was too big and I was a bit distant from it, and I was trying to do too much. I put the novel away, unfinished.

But then one day some friends and I were sitting down in their living room, talking, and they told me about something that happened to them. There was a fire in their story. And there was a ranch, and somewhere, there was a bathtub. And a glass of wine. And some fire fighters. It was an incredible story. I listened in awe, and when I went away, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. This little story that happened to a couple of my friends wouldn’t leave me alone.

I started to ask myself questions. What would it be like to wait for a fire? What would it be like to not even know for sure if the fire would reach you? What does that do to your marriage? How does that make you see your land?

I started writing. Characters came to me. The background of the story my friends told me changed. It became fiction. My characters came slowly and developed roots. They dug in. They stopped being ghost-like and became sharp and a little demanding. I went back in my writing and scratched out the places where Molly and Jack and Catherine were doing things that didn’t make sense anymore, now that I knew them better.

My first questions were leading me to other questions. What happens if a person is already known to struggle and a fire is heading toward them? What happens years after someone has a mental breakdown? Do people ever heal from that? Does their family ever heal? How do people learn to trust each other? And then to really big questions. What is love? What does forgiveness look like?

I did this for four years, scribbling and scratching and printing out sheets and sheets of words, only to cross through most of them. I was watering. I was pruning. I wrote throughout a lot of travel and crazy circumstances in my own life. I wrote from the beach in India, I wrote from the Himalayas. I kept going, I didn’t get too distant, I didn’t give it up. Sometimes, when I had to, I’d listen to Humboldt County radio to get the cadence of people’s words. I went back to Northern California, and I noticed all the things I’d missed. I went back to my work and put them in.

At the end of four years, I had this book.

I don’t have an office. We move a lot, and at best we live in a two-bedroom place with our six-person family. So I write at the kitchen table, first thing in the morning, with headphones in and music on. Or I write in a café with headphones in and music on. I have my dream, of course, the place I’d like to write, the workshop with the sunny window, which is off limits to all the other members of the family. But I learned that I have to shelve that for the time being. We all have to do the best we can with what we have, if we want to get anything done.

So here’s a question. Do you have a tiny idea? Something that you can’t get out of your mind? Some of the best art and writing starts this way. Andy Goldsworthy’s natural shapes and play with light, Degas and his dancers.

Is there a house or a hill you’ve noticed, that you want to sketch or photograph in different lights everyday? What is it that interests you that doesn’t interest anyone else? Can you start to ask yourself questions about that thing? (I don’t know anyone else who would remain so obsessed with this one fire for as long as I did, and I’m just glad that the friends who told me the story didn’t find it creepy. Or if they did, it’s only a little creepy, I hope.)

Take the first step with your tiny idea. That step may take you to another step, and to another step, and another one. Can you find out everything there is to know about it? And when the next step becomes clear, can you take it? Can you nibble away at it until you see the heart of it? Your tiny idea may develop into a whole world: a series of paintings or photographs, an art installation, a book, a new menu, a business, an album, a clothing line.

I have one more thing to say about my book. Many of what I now consider to be the most important elements of the book didn’t come until after a couple of drafts. They were suggestions from friends. Different friends pointed things out- maybe you could try that? they said. And I shrugged, Sure, okay, I’ll give it a go. And then those things gave new weight to the book. They fitted right into the story and made it all deeper and clearer, and I can’t imagine them not being there.

Your tiny idea may be yours, but your friends will be able to see things about your tiny idea that you can’t. (You’re too close to it.) Listen to your friends. And then, months or years from now, after you’ve watered and pruned and weeded, take a nice rest in the shade of your tree and congratulate yourself on being a good gardener.

If you’d like to win a copy of the book, please leave a comment below. I will be organizing a giveaway over the next few days and post more details here.