We face a new year, so I want to acquaint or reacquaint you with my first book, This Tumbleweed Landed. Even though I published it eleven years ago, its message is timeless.

In Day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I told you the back story of this book. Read it here: https://laradasbooks.com/2026/01/05/day-5-dont-wait/

Here’s a summary

I wrote This Tumbleweed Landed in 1992 or 1993 in a teacher’s workshop and then it sat on my computer—no really. It sat on a 3 1/2 disk from an older 2E computer. I returned to it after my mom died in 2013. After attending a writing workshop, I added some essays I wrote and published it in 2014, liking what the combination of poetry and prose did. The funny thing—this combination has become by trademark in most of my ten books!

In 2014, my husband, Lin, and I had a delightful day photographing the cover picture. It was a cold March day with the wind blowing as only it came on the prairie in southeastern Colorado. I wanted a picture of a tumbleweed stuck in the fence, so we headed east to our ranch. We took several pictures facing northeast, so I had several to choose from when I selected one for the cover. A serendipitous moment happened when I realized we had Mesa de Maya in the background, a notable volcanic mesa in our area that dates back to 1893.

My reaction

After I opened that first box of books and sold them, I reordered more, absolutely in shock! When I wrote and published this book, I thought it would sale to local friends and family only because it was about life in my hometown. But interested expanded. Being on Amazon, people easily bought it.

What made this book special

I love all of my ten books, but what made this book special besides being the first I published is a dear friend drew four original drawings for it. Jackie (JR) Gilstrap was the artist. When I asked him to do it, he said yes quickly—no second thought. He captured the thought and emotion of the poems he illustrated, so they add so much to this book. Here they are: https://laradasbooks.com/j-rs-drawings/

In a later book, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter’s Grief (And Growth) Memoir, I had my niece illustrated that book. The idea came from my collaboration on my first book.

Recognition this book received

At the beginning of my writing career, I didn’t know to enter books into contests, but I joined the New Mexico Coop which met monthly. There I learned about the New Mexico-Arizona book awards. So, I entered my book in 2016 and became a New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards “Finalist” in one category: Biography (Other). When the banquet came around, Lin and I went all excited, and I was scared. I didn’t win, but the process taught me what to do, and I have followed in continuously. In fact, I have only not entered two of my books in this contest: the last one, Was It a Dream?, because of our move and Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey because I use it for promoting this five-book series.

Finally,

A new year brings so many new things, but I thought revisiting a dear old friend was a great way to start the year.

PS – I have been participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge, posting a blog post every day the month of January. If you have missed the previous eleven, you can see the list here: https://laradasbooks.com/ultimate-blog-challenge-january-2026/

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My Newest Books

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Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

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