October 6th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Holy Moses, who turned off the heat? Good grief! I swear it’s like someone flipped a switch. I woke up to 34 degrees! I’m SO not ready for it to be cold again.

Things were a little rushed yesterday morning with having to bring Lexi and Christopher home, and I forgot to grab my pashmina as I went out the door. When I got to Peddler’s Village, I was freezing. I got there a little early, and I had a few minutes before I had to set up, so I went to find a sweater or something. I found one similar to this one, on sale, for $20. It’s all cotton, and so soft. I thought it would look good with the dress I got for my reunion. Paulie says I look like a bat in it, but I like it.

It was Sam, Karen and I again at the signing, so y’all know we had a good time, and we all did relatively well as far as sales go. Sam thinks I should change my grabber (you have all of about six seconds to grab people’s attention as they are walking by). 

I go for the humorous approach – “I write historical and contemporary romance, but 40% of my historical readers are men, because my main characters are part of the British Secret service, so there’s murder, mayhem, mystery, suspense, kidnapping, bar room brawls, but because there’s sex and a happy ending, I’m a romance writer.” Yup, all in six seconds.

It makes folks laugh, and many do stop so I can talk to them a little more, but Sam says my books deserve a more serious approach – “they are too good and you are not giving them enough credit” – I appreciate the compliment on my writing abilities, and I love the fact that he wants me to sell more books at these events, but I don’t know if I can do what he suggests. I don’t know if I can make it feel natural, and I like to make people laugh.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be able to sell more books, and because I have more than one book to sell, the return customer is more important to me than the initial sale. Also, after these events, my sales of my Kindle books go up. 

So, with the exception of Milford Alive which was a total bust, I don’t mind only selling one or two books at these events. I love meeting the people, talking to them, seeing the kids smile when I offer them candy, and watching the tails of my four legged friends wag when I give them a cookie. Success should not always come down to dollars and cents.

All of the photos in today's blog are from the Scarecrow Festival at Peddler's Village. As to be expected, there were several Frozen inspired scarecrows this year. 

I love the one of Sven, and completely agree with its blue ribbon status. If you have any time between now and October 26^th (I think), you should get over to Peddler’s Village and check out all of the scarecrows. Some of them are quite imaginative. Sorry for all the crazy paragraph breaks, I wanted to get in as many picture as I could in this post.

On a more serious note, today marks the two year anniversary of my son’s best friend’s death in a tragic motorcycle accident. It is hard to believe two years have passed already. Bobby was such a sweet and amazing kid, who touched the lives of everyone around him. Since his family lives in Florida, and he is buried up here, I will make sure his grave has flowers on it today.

Bobby will probably be rolling his eyes at me for doing it – he wasn’t exactly a flower type of guy – well not flowers for him that is. I would have done the same for his birthday a few weeks ago, but to be honest, by the time I remembered it was his birthday, it was too late at night to do anything. Donna, Bob, Amy, Kevin & Keith – you are in my heart and in my prayers, more today than always.

Okay, I have a bunch of stuff I have to do today, so I should get moving. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

 

That jack-o-lantern is staring at me…

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

October 6th

Hi, it’s Christina – 

 

It is Sunday, October 6, 2013 and it is going to be a tough day for my kids and for a bunch of other folks I care a lot about. One year ago today, my son’s best friend Bobby was killed in a motorcycle accident. I still have problems getting my brain around it, let alone the fact an entire year has passed since that horrible day. The blood curdling scream coming from my son’s room when he found out, still echoes in my ears. Then the scramble to get him on the next flight to Florida and the overwhelming emotions; pretty much every moment of that morning is still etched into my mind.

 

My daughter called from school yesterday and I could hear the tears in her voice. I asked her what was wrong and she said she had just finished her writing assignment for rhetoric. I’ll admit, I was a little confused until she told me the subject matter. They were to write about their biggest fear. For my daughter, it was to lose her brother like Amy (Bobby’s sister) lost Bobby. In an effort to reassure her, I reminded her that her brother has not driven his motorcycle since Bobby’s funeral, and as far as I knew, he had no intention of ever riding again. Then she reminded me a motorcycle accident wasn’t the only way she could lose her brother.

In that one statement, she tapped into my biggest fear; the fear of losing one of my children. I believe it truly is every parent’s worst nightmare, and I pray I never have to experience it.

 

Sorry folks, there isn’t going to be a writing challenge today. I can’t get into the mood. We will start over again tomorrow.

 

Bobby – you are in our thoughts and prayers, more so today. You are loved and missed by many, but I know you are still around them acting as a guardian angel. This photo’s for you!