On the way home from work yesterday, I passed a house that already had a lighted and decorated Christmas tree up and showing by the window.
Is it not too soon for that? In my mind, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Season starts. That's when it's fair game to put up a tree and decorations and start shopping. The way things are going this year, I'll be lucky if I get organized enough to decorate a few days before Christmas.
With our dog, Rascal, who lives up to her name, we'll probably go with a fiber optic small tree on top of an end table. One of these days I may pull put the larger tree from the box in the basement and set it up, but not until our doggy is a little more sedate. I don't feel like chasing her to get ornaments out of her mouth. I will be putting up knick knacks, lights inside and decorations on the walls, so it will still look Christmasy. No lights outside because for some reason we have no outlets outside.
While we're on the subject of Christmas trees and such, be sure to add holidays in your books. You can mention decorations and lights or Easter eggs and baskets, or even mattress sales in your descriptions to ground the reader as to the season.
Now, back to that tree I saw. What about you? When do you decorate for Christmas? What do you put up?
I love country music and almost every country performer. While watching the CMAs, I enjoyed seeing the winners accept their awards. On the other hand, it was hard for me to see the losers do their best to appear gracious and for the most part succeeding.
For every winner, there's a loser. In life and in books, it's the same way. How people react to their good and bad fortune shows what their characters are made of. You don't have to tell a reader who the good guy or bad guy is. Let their actions speak for themselves. The readers are smart enough to figure it out.
PS Can't finish this blog without saying - You Rock, Taylor Swift! You are one smart, talented teenager! Congrats on all your awards, especially, Entertainer of the Year!!!
One of my favorite shows is on tonight - the CMA Awards. If you're a country music fan, you're probably like me and will be glued to the TV 8pm EST, or in my case 7pm, in the flatlands of Illinois.
Almost all my favorite performers will be there, except I hear that Rascal Flatts can't make it.
I'll be on
Twitter during the show also. That's part of the fun of it - discussing and dissecting outfits, performers, songs and even commercials, kind of like I'm at a giant party with people who all go for the same thing and want to share.
What about you? What kind of music do you like? Do you tweet during a favorite show or event?
Saturday was a Killer Career book signing at Barnes and Noble in Schaumburg. I just love the way they do their posters, by the way. Very professional looking.
It was 70 degrees outside, which is an unusual temperature for November. Needless to say, not everyone wanted to waste such a beautiful day by pending it inside a book shop.
The usual assortment of customers did come by, some asking me questions about how long it took to write my book, how I got started, and how many books I'd written.
Some said they'd never heard of me. I've heard that one before. (g)
What was surprising is that three children, not at the same time or with the same party, asked for my autograph - two on the back of bookmarks, one on a slip of paper. That usually doesn't happen. Maybe it's the economy. I don't know if their parents put them up to it, or if they thought of it themselves.
One person asked about my book and then said she doesn't buy from Barnes and Noble, but online instead. Since she was in the store, I can only assume she was scouting there for books first. I don't know.
Oh, yes, a variation on the restroom question was, "Where are the dictionaries?"
Another took the time to show me some missing pages in one of the magazines.
What about you? What questions have people asked you at book signings? Anything that stood out at a book signing you'd like to share?
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Thanks for the suggestion about Penny. I get her newsletter. You're right, she would make a great addition to our conference. Thanks!
I certainly understand about picking and choosing what conferences to attend. I stick to the east coast, within driving distance, usually. I may eventually venture further afield, if I can combine a vacation with a conferfence.
Deb
I can do that.
So what budget are we talking for the cover work? And do you have anything in wind for the cover, or would you rather me just be inspired by your synopsis?
Aidana WillowRaven
Looking at your brief synopsis on lulu for Murder in the Keweenaw, I would definitely like to give the cover a shot.
I am assuming the current cover is not available for print, or you would just like a different look?
Aidana WllowRaven
Let me know how to order your book.
Abe
Since you are in Germany you might find a couple of my books interesting as both have a German connection. One is "Scratch--out!" about a German exchsange student who is conned into working for a terrorist organization in an attack on the USA with junk mail. It's a cheap download from Wings ePress, but the paperback are only available from me and the postage to Germany is an outrage. The other book is "Ben Zakkai's Coffin" published by Zumaya in both ebook and papeback formats. It's about a trade journal photographer who is forced to go after an old Nazi war criminal in exchange for legal help in defending himself on a false murder charge. My heros tend to get conned and escape by the skin of their teeth.
I wouldn't want to live in my wife's home town, Bad Arnis an der Schlei. Nothing much to do there.She's not a war bride, though. Some wives of GI's discover that the soldier's home town was not like New York City, but West Armpit, Oklahoma, a dusty almost ghost town.
your message was very interesting. Meine Frau is auch urspruenglich Deutsch. Sie ist aus Rheinlandpfalz und in Pirmasens geboren. Ich war in Ramstein stationiert und habe dort meine Frau kennengelernt. Seit 1961 sind wir verheiratet und das war bei der USAF in Ramstein.
Ich bin Amerikaner in Pennsylvania geboren. Ich versprach meiner Frau dass wenn ich in Rente komme, wir nach Deutchland zurueck kommen.
Jetzt wohnen wir in einem kleinen Dorf - Goecklingen in der Pfalz. Es ist entlang der Weinstrasse in der Naehe von Frankreich. Ungefaehr 15 KM von Weissenbourg.
Your books sound interesting and I will investigate them further.
I've been free-lancing for over 30 years. Of course, I occasionally took "regular" jobs at times to make ends meet, ranging from a magazine editor and an OTR truck driver (that's the job that really pays).
You've really got to be prolific to make even minimum wage free-lancing. Seems everyone respects the written word--except those who pay for it.
I'm published through PA. And yes I did work as a grocery bagger, when minimum wage was less than $2.00 an hour (doesn't that give age away). I've been out of work since January, plenty of interviews, but no one wants to hire a middle aged white male these days. So I might have to go back to bagging groceries.
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