Not free for much longer...

Better hurry up and grab it while it's free!

Free? What's the catch...

No catch. It's just free. All day today and tomorrow. Don't miss out.

Chasing a Dream FREE

Can't beat that price! My book is free on kindle/ipad/computer on Wednesday 9/11 and Thursday 9/12! If you've wanted to read it(and not have to pay for it!) here's your chance. Just go here: http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-a-Dream-ebook/dp/B0096CHA1K/

Headlines: Campus News: Luther College Book Shop to host book signing May 18

Here's the "more info" that I said was coming...

Headlines: Campus News: Luther College Book Shop to host book signing May 18

Luther College book signing

Just a heads up - I'll be doing a book signing at the Luther College bookshop on Saturday May 18th from 1:30-2:30. More info to follow...

Toddler Toons Power Rankings

Lurking through the Twitterverse and Facebook Nation it's become obvious that some of you need some help. It's understandable. You're new parents. The cartoon world has changed. Well, as a savvy five year veteran of the new-age cartoon world I'm here to help you out.

1) Backyardigans - Good songs. Periodic adult humor thrown in. Funny names like Uniqua. What's not to like?

2) Sesame Street - This ain't your daddy's Sesame Street. Somehow the show is now funny. I can neither confirm nor deny the rumor that a character in my book is based off of Grover. Only downfall is that it's extremely Politically Correct.

3) Little Einsteins - Maybe it's the fact that I enjoy the music. Maybe it's the fact that Quincy cracks me up. Most likely it's the fact that both of my kids will sit still and watch it. Works for a 4 year old AND a 2 year old.

4) Super Why - Educational, which is always good. Plus, when Chloe says the name it sounds like Pooper Pie. Ha, Pooper Pie.

5) Dora/Diego Combo - Really they're the same thing. Getting low on the enjoyability level now, except that I enjoy mispronouncing Spanish words over and over again.

6) Blue's Clues - I can talk like Blue. I also do a mean Mr. Salt.

7) Team Umizoomi - Yes, I really did give my 7th graders extra credit for watching Team Umizoomi and recording all of the math terms they heard...

8) The Wonder Pets - I love talking like Ming Ming. I don't think my wife does...

Last Place) Yo Gabba Gabba. This show is just strange. It is banned from my house. That's right, I put the foot down! Shows you my immense power in the household.

Feel free to disagree. Just know that you're wrong...

Twins review

Here's a link to another nice article about my book.

http://puckettspond.com/2013/03/08/minnesota-twins-fan-pens-baseball-novel/

Touchback

I watched the movie Touchback last night. Good movie. I think what I liked was the description of small town community farming life. After living and working in Spring Valley for several years I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of what a community of around 2,500 should feel like, and this movie hits it pretty accurately. Both the good and the bad, but mainly the good. This movie could have taken place in Spring Valley. Definitely worth checking out.

Spying on libraries

OK, I admit it. I do a little bit of library spying. My novel is still pretty "small-time". So, there are only about 5 or 6 libraries that I know have my book on hand. I like to check them out when I'm bored sometimes and see if my book is getting read or if it's just sitting there on the shelf collecting dust. For the most part, it seems to be checked out pretty often, which is good! I still find it exciting when I hear that my book is being read. I guess there's no guarentee that if it's checked out that it actually gets read, but I like to assume it does....

Rochester Track Club

I attended the RTC banquet last night. One of my former students/players was the honorary speaker(Chris Erichsen). He did a GREAT job! It's nice seeing a former student have the kind of success that he's had. I also won a free entry into a 20K in April. Guess I better increase my miles. Plus, I'm going to really have to step it up to reach the 6,140 mile mark that Chris set in 2011. Amazing!

Goodreads

This is gonna be a quick post. If you haven't heard of goodreads.com you should check it out. You can record the books that you've read. Rate them. There are discussions on books in the different genres that you might enjoy. Good place. Check it out, and then you can friend me.

Customer Reviews

Some really nice customer reviews have showed up on my Amazon page. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to do that. I'm not sure who a couple of the people are, which is especially exciting since I know they're not typing them there just because they know me. You can check them out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-a-Dream-ebook/dp/B0096CHA1K/

Word of mouth advertising

My favorite part of having my book being read by people is hearing that they've talked to others about reading it. I've had that happen a few times now (again today at school), and it means more than someone just saying that they liked it. It shows that they liked it.

My second favorite part is when people tell me how quickly they read it. I've always thought that my book is a quick read and I wanted to make it that way, but it's tough to tell with your own work.

So, if you've read my book and enjoyed it, please tell others about it. And then, tell me you've told others! :) If you didn't enjoy it, just smile and nod at me like you haven't read it. That's always good, too!