Vote for your favorite headshot.
Dear Friends and Family,
It’s time to select from one of three author headshots for my second book which will be published by She Writes Press on Jan 19, 2027—and I could use your help. This photo is what will appear in the “About the Author” section of the book and elsewhere. In some cases it will be cropped to a 1×1 ratio, to become a true “head” shot.
The non-headless headshots for your consideration are at the end of this letter. :-)
From now on, I’ve decided to organize my letters to you into three sections: Author’s Journey, Boating/Personal Life, and Wildlife. Sometimes, I may share a story under one or two topics only, but this way you can pick and choose which sections you’d like to read.
Author’s Journey
Eight months ahead of publication may seem early to need an author photo, but there are so many more steps to publishing beyond simply writing (and revising X 10) your best, most compelling version of a book than I ever dreamed. Delivering the photo to my publisher by the end of the week is part of my editorial schedule. For this step, a She Writes Press designer is reformatting the MS Word double-spaced version that I submitted into its 5.5 X 8.5-inch book format, which are called First Pages.
Authors then scrutinize their First Pages for typos and formatting issues, but at that point we can’t make big changes that would throw off the formatting or pagination.
Given how many thoughtful eyes have been on my words (9 Beta readers, a SWP copy editor and 2 proofreaders), the document should be error free. Yet . . . typos and mistakes do occur. I read somewhere that if a published book has no more than 6 typos, that’s considered “clean.”
As mentioned in the previous newsletter, I’m emerging from a year of dormancy. My aim this year is to share bits of the publishing journey and other two topics with you one or two times a month. In upcoming posts, you’ll be the first to see the book’s cover, for example.
Upcoming Event, May 9, Saturday 10:30 AM
I’m looking forward to interviewing author and settler historian Coll Thrush on May 9 Saturday. His book Wrecked: An Unsettling History of the Graveyard of the Pacific is fascinating.
What a relief to have much of my energy back.
Wildlife
On January 6, we experienced cold, pelting rain around 2:00 PM. Anna’s hummingbirds winter here, but in these conditions they need to either hunker down out of the wind and rain or feed every 20-30 minutes.
They’re normally extremely territorial about food sources, especially feeders. Jim and I had never seen more than two birds share one of our feeders, and those wary episodes lasted less than a minute. During this blustery, cold afternoon, up to 8 (!) perched together while fervently feeding. Six are in the photo.
BTW: I clean our feeders once a week and offer homemade sugar water (1:4 sugar:water; boiled to sterilize).
Last week, I read Sy Montgomery’s delightful book, The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings, in which she and a friend hand raise two orphaned Allen’s hummingbirds.
Her description of the territoriality of Anna’s hummingbirds reminded me about the rare episode of communal behavior on our deck, induced by the extreme weather.
From Sy’s book, I learned that hummingbirds have the largest hearts relative to body size of all birds and the highest density of oxygen-transporting red blood cells of all animals—necessary to fuel their high metabolism.
Author Headshots with Heads: Vote Here
Cast your vote simply by emailing your preference.
Thank you for stopping by. I’ll post the results of the headshot vote in my next newsletter.
I hope you’re enjoying your spring’s many gifts.
— Beth
“I was hooked from the beginning. I forgot it was a memoir because it reads like well-written fiction. You will be happy you made room for this gem.”
— Book Club Member, Nov 2025
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