Good morning from the Home Office in Gretna, NE! In all my excitement to introduce you to my illustrator, Cartney McGuigan, I had some backstory going on here that I find humorous enough to share.

As I started with my heart afire, I couldn’t download/convert a file to jpg. No problem! I checked for an extension to do that, found two. They worked, but you could only see a curl of Cartney’s hair. No time to waste. Kate sent me a jpg version, and we were off to the races. Until.

Until Lexie, my staff-member, decided she had to be sick. Right on my office rug. My fun pop of color in the room – my white background rug with colorful buttons on it. She was sick several times over about thirty minutes. Poor Lexie!

Needless to say, I am delighted to be working with Cartney McGuigan on the project, “Roxie, What Are You Doing?” I know she will capture what I’m looking for in the artwork. It’s the most important part of a picture book. My words will change according to the visual story. I can hardly wait to work through this process with her. I most appreciate the fact we are two creative people, choosing to work together. Age is not a factor, it’s the love of creating moving us forward. How lucky we were to find each other!

On another note I find rather humorous, I heard from my attorney handling the establishment of my LLC. The name I chose, “Eureka Publishing Company, LLC,” is most likely too similar to the “Eureka Writing Company, LLC,” which calls Lincoln, Nebraska home. Dang! That was such a great name. For all my “Eureka” moments. Ok, so it can’t be that hard to find a name, can it? Well, here we go down this rabbit hole!

OMG! Publishing LLC – a religious publication company in US

Late Bloomer Publishing LLC- already taken elsewhere in US.

Never Too Late Publishing LLC – ditto

Take the Plunge Publishing LLC – a lingerie company in the US

Watch This! Publishing LLC – a shipping company in the US

Creative Soul Publishing LLC – already exists in US.

Roxie Publishing LLC – Exists in Ohio

Grateful Publishing Company LLC – Grateful Owl Publishing Co LLC – exists in US

Home Office Publishing Company LLC – Real Estate in US

Never Did This Before Publishing Company – Never Before Publishing LLC in US

First Time LLC – Exists in US

Just Do It LLC – Nike

Life IS Publishing LLC – Already exists in US

Fresh Ideas Publishing LLC – Food & recipe company in US

Shadow Publishing LLC – Already exists, publishes Horror genre in US

Sunshine Publishing LLC – Already exists in US

I came down to three choices;

Raabe Ranch Publishing Co, LLC – I jokingly call our large lot that has a wetlands behind it “Raabe Ranch” since it’s so big for the dogs to run.

Kathy Raabe Publishing Co, LLC – Kind of boring, I think. But a possibility.

Jewell Publishing Co, LLC – Eureka! How simple. Why didn’t I think of this first? It’s my maiden name, my family name. My dad was a pressman at our newspaper, we all learned so much about the business just from hearing conversations at home. This honors Dad, who always encouraged me, and gives credit to where I came from. A blue collar, working class home. The best. Thanks again, Dad!

Cross your fingers the Nebraska Secretary of State doesn’t reject this name. We’ll have another cause for celebration when the LLC is established. It’s a legal protection for our personal assets. I will write more than one book. More kids books, and back to my novels for sure.

The coming week will see all the Christmas decorations being put away. I wasn’t ready to be rid of the beautiful lights in the evenings by the fire. They’re so pretty. I suppose it’s time. I save the snowman collection until January – March for display. Cute, and it fills up those spaces so they’re not so empty. The Babe is a big help to me, since I’m not supposed to carry heavy stuff, and all that. He is so patient. I’m blessed, and so is he!

Off to wrap and stow decorations. And watch Kansas City vs. the Cleveland Browns. It should be a great game.

Life holds so many possibilities. Go out and grab one for yourself! Thank you for reading today. More adventures tomorrow!