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A Publisher’s Conversation with Authors: How Libraries Really Acquire Books

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  Most authors imagine that getting their book into libraries is simply a matter of the library “wanting” it — or that the publisher can somehow “place” it there. In reality, library acquisitions follow a structured, policy‑driven process that has very little to do with author enthusiasm and everything to do with workflow, reviews, and patron demand. Here’s what actually happens behind the scenes. 1. Libraries Don’t Buy Books the Way Bookstores Do Bookstores browse catalogs, look at covers, and take chances. Libraries do not. Public libraries operate under: Collection development policies Budget constraints Vendor contracts Cataloging and processing requirements Professional review standards Every acquisition must fit those criteria. A library cannot simply buy a book because an author asks them to. 2. Most Libraries Buy Through Vendors — Not Directly From Publishers Many authors assume libraries order from Amazon or from the publisher’s website. They don’t. Libra...
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Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life - Brazil: Gramado

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Gramado While I was working in Porto Alegre, friends insisted on taking me “up the mountain” for a day, a phrase they delivered with the same reverence Californians reserve for “up the coast.” The destination was Gramado, a small town tucked into the Serra Gaúcha, where the air cools, the pines thicken, and Brazil briefly forgets it is tropical. Gramado looks as if a Bavarian architect wandered off course and decided to start over in the Southern Hemisphere. Steeply pitched roofs, half‑timbered façades, tidy flower boxes — the whole place carries a German accent even before anyone speaks. It isn’t a theme park imitation; it’s the lived inheritance of the German immigrants who settled the region generations ago and left their mark in everything from the architecture to the bakeries. And then there was the chocolate. I had been warned, but nothing prepared me for the sheer devotion to chocolate in that town. Shop after shop displayed glossy truffles, molded animals, pralines, bar...
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May/Mental Health Month - PTSD: The Mind’s Way of Remembering What the Body Can’t Forget

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  PTSD isn’t just about flashbacks or nightares. It’s about memory—how the mind and body remember danger long after the danger is gone. People often think PTSD means being “stuck in the past.” But for those who live with it, it feels more like the past being stuck in them. A sound, a smell, a tone of voice—anything can open the door to a moment that never really ended. PTSD is not weakness. It’s not drama. It’s not a refusal to move on. It’s the nervous system doing its job too well—protecting, scanning, bracing, even when safety has returned. For some, it comes from a single event. For others, it’s the accumulation of many small ones: chronic stress, emotional neglect, repeated loss, or living too long in survival mode. And for many, it’s invisible. They look calm, competent, even cheerful—but inside, their body is still negotiating with ghosts. Healing from PTSD isn’t about erasing memory. It’s about teaching the body that the present is not the past. It’s about learning that ...
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