FORGET ME NOT Book Trailer - Cast and Crew

I am VERY excited to announce the release of the book trailer for FORGET ME NOT. I'm trying to get 2,000 YouTube views before the book is released on October, 2, so if you like the trailer please pass on the link via Twitter or Facebook or email or whatever.

Go here now to see the FORGET ME NOT BOOK TRAILER

I was lucky to have a very talented group of young people working on this project. Most of them are recent University of New Mexico Graduates. Josh Stuyvesant, second from the left, who just completed his degree in Media Arts, created the script and storyboard and basically put the whole video together. Check him out at his blog. His very talented friend, Kyle Ruggles, created the musical score, Jessica Garrett did makeup, and Jesus Ordóñez was in charge of photography.

Josh also played the part of Elijah, the boy you see running down the street and holding the forget-me-not bracelet. Haleigh Chwirka, who went to school with my oldest daughter through sixth grade, played the part of Ally. I didn't even know that Josh knew Haleigh until I arrived at the cast party at La Cumbre. Haleigh just finished her teaching degree and will be leaving soon to teach English in Thailand.

Jeremy Kinter played the Hangman, the creepy guy in the hall, and also served as production assistant. He's actually a very nice guy in spite of his role in this video. When Josh and I got together for the final stages of production, we met at one of my favorite coffee shops, the Satellite, where Jeremy happens to work as a barista.

Nate Steinberg played Davis, the football stud. He also helped with set up. He is sort of semi-famous, having played an extra in "The Social Network." His father is David Steinberg, book reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal.

These kids all did an amazing job, so if you like what you see, pass it on. BOOK TRAILER LINK

Preparing for a Book Launch: Searching for Flowers

I can't believe it's a mere 8 weeks until the release of FORGET ME NOT.

While looking for flowers to use in the book trailer, I called the local florist to see if they had forget-me-nots. They did not, nor could they order any. I went to the craft store to see if they had plastic versions of the tiny blue plastic flower. They didn't. I finally went to Jackalope, a local nursery based on the fictitious animal that is supposedly a cross between an antelope and a jack rabbit. To my dismay I discovered that forget-me-nots were NOT in season. 

They suggested growing them from seeds. I told the helpful plant lady that I doubted my publisher would delay the release of my book to allow me time to grow flowers.

Trying to be helpful, the plant lady showed me white barcopa. It also has five petals, but it's white, not blue. I seriously considered painting the flowers, but since I've never been artistic, I put this thought aside. Just as I feared all hope was lost, I found this pretty little blue flower whose name I can't remember. It's not forget-me-nots but as long as we don't do any close up shots, I think we'll be okay.

I now have complete sympathy for those movie people who have to go around town searching for props and sets and drug stores with jukeboxes and flowers that aren't in season and whatever else the crazy author decided to put in the story.

I now also know that flowers can have stunt doubles.
There's a lot more to being an author than I ever imagined.