Welcome to the world of $1300 a piece nausea patches or $400 a piece pain killers

Remember Bridget, this beautiful 31-year-old writer who lives in Portland? Three things happened to Bridget in February:
1. She got an agent for her young adult novel.
2. She got married.
3. She found out she has Stage Four colon cancer.

You want to know the reality of health care in American today? Bridget just found out that her "insurance" doesn't cover $1300 a piece nausea patches or $400 a piece pain killers. What would you choose? Paying rent or vomiting so much you end up back in the hospital? Buying groceries or being in agony?

But you can help. To help defray some of the costs, authors and artists all over the US have banded together to offer their goods and services in an online auction. Check out the items at the Bridget Zinn Auction at http://bridgetzinnauction.wordpress.com. The auction closes May 30.

If you live in Portland, then go to the Lucky Lab Brew Pub, 915 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Friday, May 29, 6:30-9 p.m. You don't have to RSVP. Just show up! Why did we pick that day? Because the Portland area Kidlit Bloggers decided meeting for drinks and chat on a regular basis would be a great way to network. Bridget came up with the idea to meet on the fifth Friday of a month. May 29 is a fifth Friday.

And if you would like to follow Bridget blog or just find out more about her, you can do so at http://www.bridgetzinn.com/blog/.

The Costco Miracle!

My agent is unfamiliar with Costco, and thought it might be similiar to Grocery Outlet, another of my favorite stores. But Costco isn't the last home for products that never sold. Instead it specializes in items, many high-end, at unbelievable prices. Seafood, meat, imported cheeses, clothes, bedding, cookware, office supplies - they might not have a lot in any one category, but the buys are incredible.

Costco stocks very little hardcover fiction. But now, thanks to being on the New York Times list, plus the hard work of our Thomas Nelson publicist, they have Face of Betrayalin stock on a trial basis in Seattle and Portland stores for only $11.99 (list is $25).

Shoot! That's even cheaper than I can authors' copies for. Yesterday I bought a couple and promptly gave them away to folks who wanted copies but for one reason or another couldn't get them.

While I was in the checkout line, I said to the checker, "See if you can figure out what's special about that book." They put your Costco card right in front of them. He looked back and forth and said in an amazed tone, "Wow! You have the same name as the author!"

Quite a coincidence!

If you live in Portland or Seattle and would like to meet Lis and I in person, see us at:
* Friday, May 29
6-8pm
Seattle Costco, Aurora Village, 1175 North 205th, Seattle

* Saturday, May 30
10am-1pm
Portland Costco (the busiest Costco in the country), Portland Warehouse, 4849 NE 138th Street, Portland

Can you help Bridget?

This is Bridget. Three things happened to Bridget in February:
1. She got an agent for her young adult novel.
2. She got married.
3. She found out she has Stage Four colon cancer.

I met Bridget a year ago at an Oregon SWCBI event. She had just moved to Portland from Wisconsin, where she was a teen librarian. She is a beautiful person, inside and out. When she found out she had an agent, she was just glowing. A few days later she went to a naturopath for headaches and vision problems. She ended up in the ER – and learned very quickly that she had cancer. Big, bad cancer.

Right now, Bridget is undergoing chemotherapy.

To help defray some of the costs, authors and artists all over the United States have banded together to offer their services in an online auction.

Are you a writer? Would you like the first pages of a manuscript critiqued? Are you ready to market a book,need a bookmark or advice on a query letter?

Are you a reader? There are dozens of signed books.

Do you like to travel? Want to get away to Torrey, Utah and take in the fabulous national parks in the area?

Are you looking for a handmade baby quilt, handmade book, jewelry and more?

Check out the items at Bridget Zinn Auction at http://bridgetzinnauction.wordpress.com. The money will help her with medical expenses.

If you could spread the word, I would be grateful.

And if you would like to follow Bridget blog or just find out more about her, you can do so at http://www.bridgetzinn.com/blog/.

I guess it wasn't a fluke

I guess it wasn't a fluke. Because Face of Betrayal is still going to be on the New York Times bestseller list May 17!

And we moved up!

And we are ahead of a James Patterson book! (Okay, one that is two months older, but still!)

Does this make up for the two years it took me to get an agent?

The fact that I had to write four books before one sold?

Being dropped by one publisher because the sales of my second book were not double the sales of my first?

Writing more books that did not sell even after I was published?

Having a few other issues that would not be politic to mention in a public post?

Um, I'm not sure.

But it helps!

If you can't say anything nice...maybe you should be a book reviewer

Or if not a book reviewer, at least post your thoughts on Amazon. An agent found some examples of negative reviews for famous books. My favorite was:

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
“I bought these books to have something nice to read to my grandkids. I had to stop, however, because the books are nothing more than advertisements for “Turkish Delight,” a candy popular in the U.K. The whole point of buying books for my grandkids was to give them a break from advertising, and here (throughout) are ads for this “Turkish Delight”! How much money is this Mr. Lewis getting from the Cadbury’s chocolate company anyway? This man must be laughing to the bank.”

Read more here.