Jim Butcher interview, Easter scorpion, G-Tube

Jim Butcher’s interview aired on my show last week. He’s the #1 New York Times best-selling author who wrote the Dresden Files, which was adapted for TV on the Syfy (i.e. Si Fi) channel a while ago. I loved the show but it was cancelled after the first season, despite it doing very well with viewers. You can listen to Jim’s interview at http://TheAuthorHour.com/jim-butcher/

I don’t know how your Easter vacation was, but for my wife it ended badly. We were outside on the lawn when she suddenly jumped up and started hopping around yelping, "ouch, ouch, ouch!" I thought an ant had bit her, but upon closer observation I found a tiny scorpion. I was going to take a picture of it for the newsletter but someone smashed it into nothing. So the picture you see is not the one that stung her. It’s another scorpion that I killed in our garage when we first moved into our home a few years ago. It’s WAY bigger than the one that stung my wife. She felt the pain for several days. [see my newsletter for the picture]

We’ve been waiting for this moment for around three years now... Jared finally got his G-tube removed! If you asked him what it was, he'd say it's his "second belly button" or his "plastic belly button." We used that little thing to feed him. He no longer needs it! We've been so cautious for so long, it's going to take us some time to not be scared when we pick him up or hug him.

You can read more at my newsletter: http://www.paraworlds.com/newsletter/2010-04.php

Too tired to write anything sensible

You know you're tired when you spend 30 seconds trying to remember the name of the main character you just wrote about. AHHH! Where's my brain gone!

Looks like I'm going to Utah again at the end of this month. Hopefully, I'll get at least one school visit in before I leave. But before that, I'm heading on to Florida for the Tri County Comic Con. Should be fun. I hope to sell a lot of books.

On a totally weirdo note: I just got my 30,000th visitor today on my website: www.ParaWorlds.com (YAHOO!).

Here's a part from my latest newsletter: "Well, a few days later, the new mickey ruptured, just like the first one! This time, my wife caught it soon enough and was able to put it back in herself to keep the hole from closing until we could get yet another button that wasn't ruptured. Anyway, it was a nightmare, but he's all right now."

November Newsletter: http://www.paraworlds.com/newsletter/2008-11.php

Oh, the World Fantasy Convention was just wonderful. My panel was great. I talked about mystery in young adult fantasy. Here are a couple of photos of me with some famous authors. You can see more photos in my photo albums.

David Morrell (creator of Rambo) and Matthew Peterson

Matthew Peterson, Carrie Vaughn, & George R. R. Martin (NYT bestseller) 

Jared's G-tube Goes Bye Bye

Originally posted HERE

This has been a crazy week. On Sunday morning, Jared, our almost-two-year-old “special needs” child pulled out his G-tube from his stomach, so my wife had to go to the emergency room for 8 hours. Evidently, the plastic bubble thing on the “mickey” (I call it his second belly button) that stays inside his body, ruptured, which allowed the tube to come out. The doctors couldn’t put the tube back in, but they were able to put a small catheter in. Then yesterday, the doctors put a larger catheter in because they still couldn’t get the G-tube in. My wife and I just tried to put the G-tube in ourselves (don’t worry, it’s legal!), but the hole in his stomach is still too small.

What happens is that the human body heals itself so quickly that if you don’t catch it fast enough, the hole will seal up without the G-tube in place. If we had caught it quicker (like within 30 minutes) we could have put the G-tube in without any issues. Problem was that he pulled the tube out in the middle of the night while he was sleeping.

Fortunately, Jared only needs the G-tube for supplemental feeding at night. The doctors want him to keep it because he’ll need another heart surgery in the next year or two.

As a side note, Jared started talking this month. He can say over a dozen words now. It’s cute to see him do the sign language and then say the word at the same time. He doesn’t realize that if he can say the word, he doesn't have to do the sign language any more. Most importantly, of course, is that he smiles and says “dada” every time I walk into the room.

Another side note: I've gotten past the 100-page mark of my book, which is around 1/3 of what the book will be. I've slowed down a bit in my writing because of Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, Kitabe, SpokenNetwork, and Audible. I love all those companies, but I've had to spend time working with them to get my audiobook and E-Book distributed. So much work! I'm very pleased with what I've written so far. It's like a large puzzle. Lots more mystery, romance, and suspense. What excites me is that I'm adding things that will be the base of future books.

CLICK HERE to see the new Amazon page for the audiobook.