River Fork: The Bear in the Storm – and the Mystery of Spell Buggers and Publishing Woes

May 19, 2026May 19, 2026 / jmorise / Leave a comment

small bugger changing text in a book — Those little Spell Buggers. Can’t trust ’em.

What is the origin of “being through the mill?”

I Googled it:

” ‘I’ve been through the mill’ means having experienced a very difficult or challenging time, similar to being figuratively crushed like grain in a flour mill. It has been used in various contexts, including literature and music, to describe someone who has endured hardships.”

Well, I’ve been struggling to find a key I stumbled upon two weeks ago. A key buried in the multiple programs I use to publish and create my content here and there.

River Fork: The Bear in the Storm, which I recently released had errors and typos which I have now corrected and resubmitted to the publisher. Look River Fork at your favorite book store or book site.

HOWEVER, the inside graphic—a pen and ink illustration of the River Fork neighborhood, placed on a 2-page spread, had a problem. It either came out as a grainy illustration with grayscale, or it came out as a dark grayscale with black lines…difficult to view.

Therefore, for the last two weeks, I’ve been struggling with the issue. Like I said, I had found the key, but could not locate that key again. After many conversations with my publishing company and others, I finally stumbled upon that key yesterday afternoon!

And I believe I made it work the way I intended!

Hallelujah!

Do you believe in Spell Buggers? I do.

Spell Buggers live in the deep dark woods and come out when they smell the energy of a fresh story sitting on a desk or in your computer.

They bring their little ink bottle and a pen. They mess up graphics and spelling to attract mates.

They have a long life span…not enough research has been done to determine just how long. Perhpas someone out there has more information?

What a mess they make. Beware, they could live in your neighborhood!

If you see a typo on this post, it’ll be the Spell Bugger’s doing. I think it lives in my office…or maybe in my keyboard?

I don’t have time to search for it—I’ve been through the mill and recovering, and, believe me, once is ennough.

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River Fork: Delayed Release and Customer Info

May 4, 2026May 19, 2026 / jmorise / Leave a comment

Those of you who ordered, and already received River Fork – The Bear in the Storm, please contact me at jm@jmorise.com* See below for the why.

Why?

In March I announced April 2 as the release of my debut novel: River Fork – The Bear in the Storm.

Then I pushed it out to April 30 with a promise of a final review, update and submission to the publisher to meet the deadline.

Well that didn’t work out!

Hubby went to ER. His breathing was seriously comprimised. They admitted him to the hospital. He stayed a week. The problem—his heart.

During his stay at the hopital, I remained at his bedside 9 hours a day. A phalynx of doctors entered his room every other day with more info and concerns.

Of grave concern was his low red blood count—therefore, his O₂ level was low.

The next task…replace Hubby’s Aortic valve. At this time, we are still waiting for his surgical procedure.

Back to my book: I cleverly saved a working copy as a .PDF file and imported it into my KOBO reader, which I brought to read while sitting on a small folding chair, cramped between the bathroom wall and Hubby’s wheeled tray where he ate and stored books to read.

First problem: constant interruptions, doctors appropriating my handy notepad where I made notes for planned edits to be execute once I returned home late in the evening.

Second problem: I was bushed, unable to focus, and missing Hubby’s presence in our now all-too-quiet house.

With my energy drained, my review was not good. I missed simple typos, a mispelled word, and a missing word. But among these, other salient details had been incorrectly represented. Perhaps only I noticed? Or would others notice too? All of this caught my attention while re-reading my paperback copy which arrived May 2nd.

I was apalled! How could this be! OMG!

So, the remedy*, find those customers who ordered their printed book between April 1 to May 3.

How?

If you are one of those lucky customers, you now own a collector’s item (and I appreciate your being one). However, for a remedy, please contact me at jm@jmorise.com . We’ll talk.

(The deadline to contact me regarding this issue is May 20, 2026)

J. M. Orise
Author

Note to those planning to order River Fork: The Bear in the Storm, for this interval of time in May only, there may be a short delay in delivery. I appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

Feb. 16, 2026 – Update! – River Fork: The Bear in the Storm, uploading to a publisher service soon!

February 16, 2026 / jmorise / Leave a comment

River Fork: The Bear in the Storm was reviewed last April. The reviewer loved the story and concurred it needed to be published for Young Adults as well as Adults.

Happy to hear that, I re-read the story to check for typos, awkward sentences, etc., just in case.

Since then, I have re-read and edited it seven times. It is amazing how one does not see what is in front of them when reading their own work. This phenomenon is known as expectation. You see what you expect. Very easy to do in a manuscript. That’s why another pair of eyes is helpful.

Am presently formatting the manuscript, making it ready to upload to a publisher.

The novel is Young Adult, Historical Fantasy. The setting is 1956-1957 in a fictitious farming and logging town in the New Hampshire mountains.

The theme deals with loss, grief, belief, acceptance, self-discovery, and coming of age.

Though a Young Adult novel, it is suitable for children and parents dealing with loss.

Please keep in touch to learn more about the River Fork series, and to purchase it when available.

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