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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I have posted the media release for further information:
MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT: Warren M. Mueller
(618) 692-8237
phycologist2002@yahoo.com
For Immediate Release
If You Liked The Lord Of The Rings, You’ll Love This Journey Into A World of Elves, Orcs, Wizards, Trolls & Fairies
The Past And Future King is the first book of an epic trilogy by Warren M. Mueller. It will be released by The American Book Publishing Company in January 2010.
Enter a world where people do not believe in fantasy but where each night their spirits travel to a parallel earth shifted in time and inhabited by elves, trolls, fairies and other mythical creatures. Just like dreams, these people have little or fuzzy memories of their nightly travels in the realm of fantasy. However, one summer night something strange happened that changed all this and signaled the merger of the world of fantasy and reality.
The Past And Future King is about an ordinary lad named Tom who has an unusual love of reading. He befriends an old scribe named Willet who introduces him to fantasy books which are generally frowned upon in Tom’s village. Soon the images in these fantasy books begin to captivate Tom until he is directed by Willet to visit a lake near his village where Tom sees himself drown in a recurring dream. Tom is threatened by wolves and decides to jump into this lake where he is drawn into a vortex and enters a parallel earth where dreams become reality. In this world, Tom is helped by elves and he is given a magical stone to help him fulfill ancient prophesies about becoming a Son of Light. According to these prophesies, the Sons of Light herald the merger of the parallel earths to form one new one in which The Past And Future King will return and evil will be vanquished forever.
The Past And Future King is Warren’s second published book by the American Book Publishing Company. Warren is a Christian author of fiction and non-fictional articles and books. Warren’s first published book, Truth Seeker: Straight Talk From The Bible, is a concise summary of what the Bible says about over thirty practical living and theological subjects with lots of Bible quotes. His articles are featured on the New York Times About Christianity and Christian Pulse web sites.
The Past And Future King is available in bookstores or online at www.Amazon.com
Visit his web site at www.warrenmueller.com
Thanks for the advice and information about your book. I have purchased your Frugal Book Promoter book and found it to be very useful. I presently have two books with the American Book Publishing Company and they have assigned editors to me. The first one "Truth Seeker: Straight Talk From The Bible" is a concise summary of what the Bible says about over 30 theological and practical living subjects with lots of Bible quotes. The second book is a fictional Lord of the Rings story called "The Once & Future King." For more about me and the books and articles I have published go to www.warrenmueller.com
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