Some sales are sales and others are sales!

So if that doesn't make sense let me explain. I go to a lot of different places to display my wares and sell pottery. Over the years all the hundreds of pots I've sold sort of mush together. This year at Trout and Berry days I didn't sell as much as usual--pretty much par for the whole summer of sales. The economy has taken a bite in the profit margin. So towards the later afternoon when I was still hoping to make an extra fifty bucks, I sold one of my frogs to a boy. He didn't have the full amount, but since he paid for it all in quarters I didn't mind that he was a dollar short. He was thrilled with it and later came back with his brother. This time he and his brother had managed to scrounge up more quarters, enough for a dish. I've sold more at one time to customers before, but seldom has a sell brought me more pleasure.


If you live in Cache Valley come hear me speak about my new book "Sun Tunnels and Secrets," at 7 PM on Monday, Oct. 4th at the Hyrum Library. There will be refreshments and door prizes--chances to win books and handmade pottery. I'll have books to sell, portion of proceeds will be donated to the library.

Oct. 9th, I'll be at the Book Table in Logan from 10-2. We'll give away more prizes and I'll be on hand to sign books. I hope you can make it.

And last but not least--a shot from my birthday hike. Thanks everyone. I love you! by the way the guy with the ball cap ran the TOU marathon before coming on our 9 mile hike.

Sun Tunnels and Secrets

Check out Susan Dayley's review of my newest book "Sun Tunnels and Secrets." It is for sale on Amazon. I'm pretty sure it is in some stores, but I'm not sure where. Has anyone seen it in Desert Book stores? Basically, while the book is a stand-alone, in other words you don't have to have read my other two published novels to know what's going on, it does continue the story started with "A Question of Trust." In Sun Tunnels three elderly sisters stumble on a body on a trip to the Sun Tunnels, a land art project in the west desert of Utah. This awful discovery turns out to be the least of their problems. Norma's husband just passed away, and she learns he kept a secret from her their entire marriage. The sisters' young friend Tony is keeping a secret about his famous father, and Tony's mother is keeping a secret of her own. Tony is secretly in love with his friend Kelli, who recently escaped from a polygamist group. And who is the mysterious young car thief with whom Norma feels a special connection? Everything converges in Grouse Creek at the Fourth of July celebration. Will secrets prove everyone's undoing? This is a story of relationships and trust, of romance and dreams.

Check out a blog I recently discovered: Side Notes.

If you enjoyed my book Sun Tunnels be sure to nominate it for a Whitney Award. Whitney's are like the Oscars for LDS fiction--honoring writers for their craft. It's a fabulous idea that has really grown in the last few years.

Rejections! Book Give-AWAY for you!

I get rejected a lot. Sometimes I feel like a desperate 16 year old boy in search of a date for the prom. About January I start thinking about what pottery shows and sales I want to apply for. Many people don't understand that artists, potters included, don't just pay a fee and show up at a festival. It takes a bit of research to find the shows that will be best to showcase your work. Then you apply with up to a $50 non-refundable fee to say nothing of the booth fee if by chance your accepted. You send slides (now much of this is online) of your work and your booth. Just a fraction of artists that apply to any given show are allowed in. Now I'm not talking about county fairs--I'm talking about bonafied art fests. They are expensive and difficult to get in.
Sometimes I try out a sale. Two years ago I went to an art festival near where our son lived. It bombed. I could have sold more on my front lawn with a handmade sign stuck to a telephone pole. I wasn't rejected in the application process, but my the numerous festival goers with obvious money, who said things like, "Beautiful work, but I don't know how I'd carry it on the plane." If I hadn't been staying with my son's family, I would have lost money on that sale. Last year, we went through the same thing at a Montana show. This one bombed out because of the economy and the weather. Anyway making and selling pottery is not for wimps. And neither is book writing and publishing. Either way you must be prepared for a lot of knocks along the way. Sometimes I get sick of it all, but then every once in a while there's a silver lining. I hear there's a book give away of my newest book on Good Reads. Sun Tunnels and Secrets. And check out Anne Bradshaw's blog. We'll be giving away my first book "A Question of Trust" there. If you don't win, you'll find it on Amazon or you can order it here.

Earth, Wind, and Fire. . . and water.

Yesterday, we went on a hike up High Creek Trail starting in Cove. Wow, it was so beautiful. I'd heard of this trail for years. Last year I made an attempt to hike it, but we had a lot of water crossings. Still last year was fun too. This year though--bridges ran over the stream. The bridges weren't new either. So I'm not sure where we hiked last year. Last year we started in Richmond and wound around looking for the trial head. The Cove way is more straight forward.  Well, there are plenty of vistas and the the creek is beautiful. The flowers are still great even. We saw plenty of Indian Paint Brush--not as many as on the White Pine Trail, but still ample to delight the senses.
Before the hike though, we had to detour to drop something off at my cousin's house in Smithfield. On the detour off the main road, our friend Mike said, very calmy, I might add. "Is that house on fire?" Without any urgency in his voice at all--so eventually my husband turned around and then around again until we were in front of an older home. Smoke was indeed coming out from under the roof on all sides. A mail carrier sat out front eating her lunch. We asked her if she thought the house was on fire. She jumped into action--knowing the occupant. We banged on doors and windows calling for the occupant, an elderly woman. Mike called the fire in, and within a minute we heard sirens.

Well, Mick and I are very cautious about calling in fires, having once called in a fire that turned out to be nothing but smoke--perhaps even smoke from a barbeque. And that time fire trucks from our town and neighboring towns converged on the smoke and jumped out in full fire fighter attire. They kind of wondered I believe who the idiot was who called in the fire. We'd said "Next time, we'll make sure we see the flames." This time there were no flames, but the smoke came out from under the roof and out the window. Indeed the whole house was filled with smoke. About the same time the police officer stepped into the home and grabbed a burning pan off the stove, the elderly woman came hobbling safely out of the back yard--where she was presumably doing yard work. Mike made a comment to the police officer that the woman must have been cooking meth--what with the green smoke from the pan, a sure sign of meth. Yes, he was joking, but I'm not sure it was the best time. When the police officer cracked open the door of the house again, a cat came barreling out. The elderly woman kept trying to go back into the house. She wanted to open some windows to let the smoke out, but they wouldn't let her go in. Any time the police officer left her for a minute--she'd try to get in. Finally, right before the firetrucks got there, we left. Then we had our wonderful, albeit a bit hot hike.


Later that night, we were coming home from a wedding reception. The trees in Hyrum have been ravaged by recent wind and hail storm. We passed by our old house once again. Sadly, the house has been foreclosed on, and the nice buyers have moved. The house has been vacant at the hottest part of summer.  This time I decided I couldn't stand to watch all the trees we planted die. The house is not ours, but still letting trees die isn't right. I got a hose and went back. Then from 9 to 10 at night I watered. I don't know if I saved any. I'll do it again next week. The willow tree seems to be completely dead. And this is the tree that made me cry.  Our daughter has always been a unique person and came to us with a strong will and creative mind. When she was three years old, she wanted two light bulbs for Christmas. We later realized, it wasn't a light bulb she wanted, but a light cover. She didn't like staring up at the bare light bulb at night in her bedroom. The other light bulb she wanted was a night light. From about then on forever and ever, she wanted a pig--but never got one. When she was eight she wanted rose bushes. And when she was ten?--not sure the exact age, she wanted a willow tree. We have pictures of her standing by that tree. We were going to take pics every year on her birthday, but we would forgot so only have a few. I thought I had severed ties to the old house. I think I have, but the trees well they are another story and they each have their own story.

As far as I know, my old neighbors didn't call the police for my trespassing.

Fourth of July Celebration in Grouse Creek, Utah

It's been some years that I've been able to attend the celebration in Grouse Creek. I've missed it. From the rodeos, live music, parade and program--there's nothing quite like it. I got pocketfuls of candy without having to knock over any little kids to get it. We enjoyed several walks and hikes.


In about a month my newest novel will be released. The book is set for the most part in Grouse Creek in the time period that we're in right now. It starts on the night after the summer solstice June 22 with three elderly sisters from Grouse Creek finding a body in the desert. Even though I took as a springboard the true incident that happened to Marge, Delma, and Verna--I hope when you get to read the book you won't mix up my story with these people. I in no way intend my characters to be them. Anyway I'm so excited for the book to come out and know/hope my readers won't be disappointed in the story.

This is where my story begins--at the Sun Tunnels and the book will be called Sun Tunnels and Secrets. 

I love Small Towns

Monday we had a sale at the Paradise Town Hall. There was a breakfast served up by the local Fire Department. I don't know how many came, but a fair amount came into visit and browse our wares--some to buy. It was fun to hobnob with old friends now that I've moved all of three miles down the road. Still we're all a community. We know most by name--almost all by their face or even more likely by the vehicle they drive. We had a raffle to give away pottery and photography. I had my cousin's daughter reach into the bucket after I shook it up a bit. She reached in and pulled out a ticket and handed it to me. All it had on it was a first name--no last name--no phone number. I laughed. Only her first name was needed. Marjean is an icon of our town. When I teased her about not putting her last name she said. "I didn't want to fill out all that information and everyone knows who Marjean is." Indeed everyone does.

In reality Paradise and Avon are 10-20 times larger than the last town we lived in. That's hard to believe since the two communities combined are less than 2000 people. Grouse Creek, where my husband and I taught school, and where he proudly calls home, had less than 100 people by last count. I think it's down to around 70 now. After we'd moved into these larger towns, one of our friends was shopping in Wal-Mart when the checker noticed she was from Paradise. "You might know Carole and Mick Warburton." They did.  "Tell them Jason from Grouse Creek said hello." My friend asked for a last name and he laughed and replied that she didn't need one--they would know who Jason was. Indeed we did. We taught Jason in that school for all of the years we taught.

In Grouse Creek someone once told me that the town is so small that you know whose checks are good and whose husband's aren't. I loved that line and have used it in at least one of my novels. Another time in G.C. I was bike riding with a couple of good friends when we passed a piece of carpet on the road that had fallen out of someone's truck on the way to the dump. "Look's like (so and so) got new carpet." Imagine being able to recognize someone's refuse! That's a small town.

Now we live in the kind of place where each morning I'm awakened, not an ordinary rooster, but by a rooster pheasant who crows outside our bedroom window, where if we're gone for the weekend and our horses get out, we can count on someone rounding them up,  repairing the fence, then tossing them some hay so they don't get out again. We live in the kind of place where often only one name is needed. However that name wouldn't be Carole--there are at least five of us. But just like Anne with an 'e' in Anne of Green Gables--Carol--with an e sets me apart. If I can't be a Marjean, than I'll settle for Carol with an 'e'.

Paradise Artists' Sale Coming Up!!!

Once again we're having our Memorial Day Artist's Sale at the Town Hall in Paradise 9035 S. 100 W.  I'll have my frogs, bowls, vases, chip and dip plates and more. Jim Parrish has been busy photographing scenes and will have some new work. 

I'm also excited to show off the new versions of my old books--"A Question of Trust" and "False Pretenses" will be offered again at only 10.00 each. 

Also we'll be joined again by Jeani Anderson-Jenks, a local crafter who does jewelry and recycled mittens and other things. 

One of the best things about the day is our local entertainers, the funny and talented, Dale Major and his children Erin and Jake. They will perform at 9 am so that the breakfast eaters can enjoy them as well. 

Once again we will offer a chance to win pottery and photography--proceeds for the raffle will be donated to the Paradise Fire Department. 

Email me at mcwarburton@gmail.com for information.