November 2nd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! So, did you remember to move your clocks back an hour? Daylight savings time ended this morning in North America. Hopefully you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep.

I am going to freeze my bippy off today at the book signing. I saw a couple of little flurries when I went and took Colby out this morning! If I apply Baba’s rule – look back at last year’s blog in late October if you don’t remember – then we should only see snow nine times this year. That’s a heck of a lot better than the 30+ prediction (and confirmation) from last year.

Since it’s not raining, the Apple Festival at Peddler’s Village is on. For some reason, Wayne, the owner of Canterbury Tales, posted that we would be there at ten today. We usually don’t start until eleven on Sundays. I guess he wanted to make up for yesterday being a total washout.

I know Karen Hluchan, How Have You Loved?, and Samuel Knight, Monty A Christmas Tale, will be there today. Also, another author, who I met at Collingswood and gave her Wayne’s contact information, will be there. Wayne wasn’t sure what her name was, but he did remember she wrote children’s stories. Unfortunately, that narrows it down to two possibilities, and I don’t want to tell you the wrong author.

What I do know is she will be doing readings from her books. Karen will also be doing readings, but readings of a different kind. (Remember, she’s a spirit medium.) They should both draw a good sized crowd up to the tent on the hill behind our tables.

We received an
autographed copy

After the signing today, Sam, Karen and I have a dinner date which I am excited about. It will be nice to just sit and chat, uninterrupted. We have a great time when we are together at the signings, and this dinner will get a chance to know each other better.

View from the "cheap seats"

Last night’s gala was very nice. Gary Shteyngart started the evening with a chat and readings excerpts from his books. He was so funny, and so engaging. He really did a wonderful job. He finished with a Q & A session. Since I was sitting in the “cheap seats” – a.k.a. we got there right on time, the lecture hall was fairly packed, so we had to sit in the balcony – he didn’t see when I raised my hand for a question. However, I did bump into him while we were exiting the building, and I was able to ask.

Paulie & Me

The auction went very well. Only two or three silent auction items were not bid on, and one live auction item – a week in the Catskills, was not bid on. However, there was one item, a birthday party sleepover in the library for ten kids, which caused a bidding war, and then a tiny dispute when the auctioneer did not see a raised paddle for a higher bid. After a brief huddle and review, the library’s director awarded all three bidding parties the prize.

Paulie, Me, Victoria, Carl & Fran

That means, instead of one party for 10 children for $1,300, they auctioned three parties for 10 children at $1,300 apiece. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is wonderful the library made out so well on this item, and I think it was really classy for the director to expand the item so none of the bidders were disappointed, but I’m sorry, I can’t get my brain around paying $130 per child for a birthday party. That’s insane! Lys’ sweet 16 only cost a little more than that, and we had around 75 guests (roughly $20 per guest).

Victoria & Robert

I met a wonderful woman, Victoria, and her husband, Robert, last night as well. Victoria and I got into a little mischief last night. She was bidding on the "Mayor for the Day" prize, and she thought she had it, then someone out bid her, so right as they were picking up the sheets, we snuck over and one upped the bid. (Then we were naughty and stayed there until the sheet was picked up.) We thought we were in the clear, but then when the winners were posted, Victoria's number wasn't on the board. The other bidder got the sheet back from the person who had collected them, and outbid Victoria again. It's what we get for counting our chickens before they hatched. Lol.

Yikes, I just noticed the time. I’ve got to boogie. It’s going to take me a little longer to get all the layers on.

I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

If these ivy covered walls could talk…

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.

September 23rd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I tried, but I just didn’t have it in me yesterday to make a blog post. I was wrecked after the two day book signing. Sunday, I had intended to walk the festival after the signing and get pictures of all the displays so you could see, but I was spent. I was literally fighting to stay awake during the drive home. I will be back at Peddler’s Village next weekend (not this weekend), and I will get the photos for you then.

I did well on Sunday, not as good as on Saturday, but it was a good day nonetheless. It wasn’t quite the same without the two Karens there. Karen Scheuer was not feeling well, so she was unable to return on Sunday, and Karen Hluchan had a prior commitment. I did however get to spend some quality time with Joanne Holliday, and I have decided I thoroughly enjoy the woman. Her and her sister Lucy were a riot! I look forward to seeing both of them at future signings.

I did have a nice surprise on Sunday. Do you remember me telling you about meeting Jessica at a previous signing? She was the aspiring writer and jewelry maker (I told you about an upcoming craft fair she will be attending). Anyway, she stopped by to say “Hi”, and it really made my day. She brought along her husband and her mom, who barely looks old enough to be her big sister, let alone her mother, so I got to meet her family. It’s moments like these that warm my heart.

Yesterday the only writing I did were email correspondences and I did jot down some notes on a story idea which popped into my head. It may or may not turn into anything, we’ll see. If it does, you’ll be the first to know.

I also spent part of the day hammering out details for this weekend’s event – Milford Alive. I’ll be honest, I have no clue where Milford even is, but I am happy to report, it is only about half an hour away. I really should do a little more research before I agree to do these things. My friend, Kathi Kurz, an author of children’s books, will be joining me this weekend. I am picking her up early, we are packing up my car, and heading up there. We will be sharing a tent, so if you happen to be in the Milford, New Jersey area on the 27^th, please come by and say “Hi”.

So my big sale started on Sunday, and things are going a little slow which is surprising. I’ve only sold about twenty books so far, and they have all been on Amazon.com. Not a single one has sold on Amazon.co.uk, and I’m not sure why. All three books are either at $0.99 or £1 – that’s a 67% discount. I created an event on Facebook and invited over 800 people. If they’d each share it with two friends, I’d be able to get the word out.

The last time I ran a sale, I did almost no advertising for it, and the amount of sales surprised me. So this time I figured, if I put forth a little more effort, they would be even better. Logical, right? This is just one of the many mysteries of book marketing for me – truly not my forte, but a necessary evil all us authors must endure.

I have received several direct messages requesting the link to my radio interview. Really? WOW. Thanks! At the risk of no one seeing this post on Facebook, I have decided to chance it, and post the link here. (If you are reading this directly from my blog, this comment won’t make much sense to you. You see, if I include any pictures or any links within my posts, Facebook severely hobbles the number of followers the post reaches. It is very frustrating.)

Okay, I should go. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

I’ll set the stage: A crowded room, lots of people are chatting, you notice one person standing alone…

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.

September 21st Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! My Facebook readers are not going to be happy with me this morning because I told them, "Sorry, today's blog is all pictures, so it wouldn't make sense to even post it here, because you would have no idea what I was talking about. So jump on over to my blog, so you can see everything." Hopefully they'll forgive me.

Karen Scheuer, Karen Hluchan,
Samuel Knight, Wayne (the owner of
 Canterbury Tales Forever Bookstore),
Me and Joanne Holliday.

So yesterday's book signing went really well for all five of us - that's right FIVE. It was a packed house at Canterbury Tales Forever.

We had such a picture perfect day, not too hot, the breeze was perfect, although one gust did wreak a tiny bit of havoc, the crowd was fairly constant, and we all sold books. Who could ask for a better day?

I got to meet and work with two new authors, and I will tell you about them and their books.

Karen Scheuer

Karen Scheuer, is a second grade teacher and she wrote A Bug and A Wish. It is a wonderful book about bullying. The illustrations are amazing, and the message is powerful. She did an amazing job on the book.

I also found out she will be attending the Collingswood Book Festival. She is in booth 154, so if you are planning on attending Collingswood, please stop by and say "Hi!" to her as well.

Karen will be back at Canterbury Tales again today, but she won't be arriving until noon.

Joanne Holliday

Joanne Holliday (I couldn't find her Facebook page. I'll give you the link when I find it) is the author of Sammy, the Unhappy Clam. It is another children's book, but this one is about you being able to be who you want to be and not just what other's think you should be. The illustrations are adorable, and the children who Joanne read the story to, really seemed to enjoy the book.

I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to spend with Joanne because we were at opposite ends of Author's Row. Hopefully we'll get a little more time to chat today.

Samuel Knight

What would a book signing be without my main man Sam? I thoroughly enjoy spending time with Samuel Knight, author of Monty, A Christmas Story. He is such a fun guy to be around. I just wish his book was available on Amazon so all of you could get a copy. I've told you about him and his book a million times already, so I won't do it again today.

He too will be returning to Canterbury Tales today, so since this is the ONLY place you would be able to pick up Monty, A Christmas Story, you should swing by if you can.

Karen Hluchan &
Terri Schwomeyer

Author, Medium and my friend, Karen Hluchan was there as well. Not only did she have her fabulous book, How Have You Loved?, she was also doing free readings up on the lawn. Although she needed to be on the lawn for the readings, I wish she would have been down by us for the signings. I missed being able to chat with her during the day.

The crowd kept growing and growing.

She had three different readings, at twelve, two and four, and she drew a nice crowd at each, the second reading had between fifty and sixty people. She did such a great job. I am going to give Terri a little shout-out here as well, because I know Karen would not have been able to pull things off so smoothly without Terri's help. Terri, you were a Godsend, and as always, a sweetie-pie. I too feel blessed to have the privilege of knowing you.

I'm a little bummed that Karen won't be back again today, but we will be together again on October 4th and 5th, and I'm sure Terri will be coming with her as well. Yeah!

So, as you know, I am not a fan of having my picture take, and certainly not of posting pictures of myself. A Selfie Queen I will never be. However, I will be posting two photos today. I have to show off my new banner and t-shirt right? Unfortunately with five authors there yesterday, I got stuck with one of the shorter tables, so the banner didn't hang exactly right, but you get the idea. I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Noemi & Ivy

I know I've said it before, but I am going to say it again. The best part of these book signings is the people I meet. I had one return customer, Bill, stop by to say "Hi". This time he came and picked up a copy of Corporate Blues. I'll admit, I did not remember his name, but I did remember him. I also got to meet these two lovely sisters. They were so much fun. We chatted and laughed for quite a while. It's folks like this that make all the long exhausting hours all worth it.

"Oh my, shoe fly pie"

I have to do one final shout-out. Tina, bless her heart, was just walking by when I accosted her. I wanted to get a photo of her shirt for today's blog. I'm telling you folks, the Scarecrow Festival is loads of fun. You should come out to Peddlers' Village if you can. There's live music, tons of food (a zillion different renditions of fried dough - Lord I'm trying to be good), games and entertainment for the kids, creative scarecrows, and let's not forget all the fabulous shoppes.

YIKES, it's time to go and I'm not ready yet. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

Sometimes you meet the nicest people…

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.

September 17th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s a chilly gorgeous day. Although, as you well know, I’m no fan of the cold, but days like today, early mornings in the low fifties, daytime highs in the mid-seventies, are my Camelot. Perfection, as far as I’m concerned.

I’m so excited. I just found out who will be joining me at my book signing this weekend. It’s Author, Medium, and all round wonderful person, Karen Hluchan. She will be joining me on Saturday (and possibly Sunday, I'm not sure), and she will have her amazing book, How Have You Loved? with her to sign. Karen and I were together at the last signing I did, and we had a ball.

So stop by and come say "Hi!" to Karen and me. The weather's supposed to be wonderful - high of 78. The Scarecrow Festival is kicking off which is lots of fun. If it's like last year, there will be pony rides, face painting, balloon animals and much more for the kids, so bring them along. It's bound to be a fabulous day. Hope to see you there!

Dani survived her abbreviated school day yesterday, although, she did come home and immediately took a nap. Her first challenge for today is going to be the bus ride in. Hopefully the noise on the bus won’t have her feeling too lousy by the time she gets to school.

I did receive some clarification about the teacher’s comment about it being the worst day for Dani to come back. With all the rain we were having yesterday, the roof at the high school was leaking (something they have been trying to fix for years but can’t quite seem to get right), and you guessed it, there was a puddle right on Dani’s seat. So at least my fear of her having a jerk for a teacher has been put to rest. Good to know. Sophomore year is probably the hardest year in high school, and the last thing she needed was a bad teacher.

There was some troubling news yesterday, but I was able to give Dani a heads up, so she wasn’t blindsided by the announcement like the other students were. When we were at the school yesterday morning, I observed a strange series of events. So, while I was walking Dani to class, I told her not to be surprised if they announced someone had died. I told her, I didn’t know who or how, or if even my suspicions were true, but I wanted her to be prepared, just in case.

Unfortunately, my intuition was spot on. The principal announced during third period that a student had passed away yesterday morning. This is the second senior they’ve lost in the past few weeks. It’s heartbreaking. No details were released out of respect for the family, but that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t know the details already. We may very well be a large town, but we have never lost that small town connection.

I will not disclose any details, however I will ask for you to pray for the family. No parent should ever have to bury a child, but lately, far too many have; and yet again, the entire community is grieving for one of their own.

Refusing to leave you on such a sad note, I will add this. Today I am picking up RV early to take her shopping at Kohl’s. She’s such a riot, and I just love her to pieces. She hates having to get up early, but if getting up early means she gets to go shopping, she’s as happy as a honey bee trapped in a botanical garden. She’ll be up, ready, and waiting not so patiently by the door with a big smile on her face when I get there.

Then the next two hours will be spent with her looking at a few things, and talking to just about everyone in the store, and if the store manager, Rory, is there, then oh Lord. She just adores the man, but I have to admit, he’s just as gregarious as she is, and seems equally as happy to see her as she him. In fact, the last time I was there with Dani, Rory asked me where my partner in crime was, meaning RV. I just had to laugh.

Okay, it’s time for me to wrap up so I can go make Paulie’s lunch. I hope you have a glorious day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

If I had a dime for every time I…

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.

August 11th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Karen snapped this photo when we
weren't looking. Me and Sam in the
background.

Good Morning! Wow! What a fantastic weekend! Yeah, I sold a few books which was nice, and I got to be outside in the glorious weather, but, as usual, hands down, the best part was the people I met.

I talked to two would-be authors yesterday, Mina and Jessica. Both lovely ladies. I gave them my personal email address and told them to contact me if they had any questions or just needed some encouragement. I look forward to hearing from them.

Wendy and her Hubby

I had a nice surprise while I was there. An old family friend stopped by to say hi. I have not seen Wendy in years, quite a few years, and you know what fries my cookies? SHE LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME. She looks wonderful. I have changed so much since, I was surprised she recognized me.

I was chatting with someone who stopped at my table, then all of a sudden I felt someone watching me – pretty strange considering there were hundreds of people around – I look up, and there she was with a big smile. We did get a few minutes to catch up (but not long enough as far as I’m concerned). It was so good to see her, so much better than the FB messages we’ve been relegated to.

I know I said as much yesterday, but it bears repeating, what really made this weekend exceptional was my co-signers. Sam is such a sweetheart and I absolutely love spending time with him. Any stranger walking by can see the goodness that shines through Sam. Then there was Karen, and I felt like I was reunited with a long lost friend I had never met before. She’s an “awesome” person. If we weren’t both so hungry and tired yesterday after the signing, we probably could have talked for hours.

I firmly believe people are purposely put in our paths, for reasons unknown to us at the moment, but to make us better in the end. Sometimes helping them is my role, sometimes them helping me is their role. Either way, I feel blessed by all the wonderful people I have come across in my life. Yes, even the not so nice ones, because they taught me how to be a better person, or that it was okay to walk away sometimes. I still have much to learn, and I probably will still have much to learn when I take my last breath, but that’s what make the journey a good one.

I guess waking at 4:00 am has made my philosophical this morning. LOL. I was so spent after two days of signing in the sun, I went to bed yesterday right when I came home. Unfortunately going to sleep so early had me waking up at a ridiculous hour.

It is going to be a LONG day. I was originally going to spend the day with Dani at the beach, but I have so much to do. There’s some mix up with FAFSA and High Point can’t see Lys’ financials. I don’t get it. All of the paperwork on my end shows High Point University; but for some reason High Point can’t assess it. We are leaving for college in 11 days, so I’m freaking out a bit over this. I also have to call High Point to make sure Lys is on the guaranteed housing list. UGH! I’m not loving having to go through all this craziness two years in a row.

Once I get that straightened out, I’m taking Dani to do some back to school shopping, and then we’re hitting the grocery store so I can stock the house for the girls while my hubby and I are in Dallas. We get back from Dallas on Wednesday, and then I need to do laundry and repack for us to leave Friday morning for North Carolina.

I haven’t booked rooms for NC yet, and the pickings are a bit slim already, so I’m a little worried. If I want a place over a two star rating, I need to be an hour away from High Point. I don’t know whether to just suck it up and hope for the best or stick with the Marriot. The problem is, I really can’t handle the $150 a night price tag. Then again, could I handle bedbugs or my car being broken into because the other hotel options are in a not so good area. This chunk of stress is something I could easily have done without. If any of you has any recommendations, I’m all ears.

By the way, I have decided to change my format a little. I will no longer be answering my own challenges. You’ve already read what I have written in the “chat” portion of the blog, so you don’t need to read more from me. However, if a challenge is issued from one of my readers, I will accept the challenge. (Message me if you have a challenge you would like me to feature.)

Okay, enough blathering for one day. I hope you have an incredible day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Open your eyes…

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.

August 10th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry there was no blog yesterday, but I am happy to report, my computer is working this morning, so the coffee did not cause any permanent damage. PHEW!! I will be researching different back-up options tomorrow – cloud, drop box, whatever. I‘m clueless, but I’ll figure it out. There has got to be something out there that’s idiot proof (aka: Me), I just need to do a little research.

Author's Row in front of
Canterbury Tales Forever

What a GLORIOUS day we had yesterday for the book signing at Peddler’s Village, although the tops of my feet got a tiny bit sunburned – I’ll have to put a little extra sun screen on them today. The Peach Festival drew a good sized crowd, which was a beautiful thing. Traffic through “Author’s Row”, as we dubbed it, was pretty constant the whole time we were there.

Sam & Monty

My old buddy, Samuel Knight, was there again yesterday. Remember, he’s the author of Monty, that wonderful Christmas book about a basset hound and the little girl who loved him that I keep raving about? Sam did amazing as usual. I think he sold five books to everyone Karen and I sold. He such a bundle of energy and good will, you can’t help but smile while you’re around him.

Karen is Karen Hluchan, a spirit medium and author of "How Have You Loved?" - an amazing book about getting the most out of your life while you are here, mediumship, and recognizing the signs from your love ones who have passed. We hit it off instantly. What a sweet and funny lady. She had a constant crowd around her table as well, partly because she was having a drawing for a free thirty minute reading, but mostly because she is such an engaging person. I lost track of how many hugs she gave out yesterday.

Karen Hluchan

Knowing both Karen and Sam are going to be there again today, I’m really looking forward to going – more so than usual. I love doing these book signings at Canterbury Tales Forever, but when I know I’m going to be there with other authors I work well with and are a joy to be around, it makes for an exciting day.

It so nice because we don’t compete with each other for sales, we actually guide folks to each other’s tables. If one of us has to step away for a moment, the others jump in and pitch each other’s books for them. It works the same way when I do these signings with Keith and Linda. It does fluster some authors at first though when they don’t expect to actually get support from the rest of us instead of us trying to steal their sale.

It’s sad everyone doesn’t realize that a) there are plenty of customers to go around because; b) everyone doesn’t have the same reading preferences; and c) if they (the customers) see us all getting along and supporting each other, it creates a nicer environment, they feel less pressured, and they are more likely to engage in conversation and ultimately purchase a book. Think about it, would you walk over to a bunch of crazy authors yelling “buy my book “no, buy my book it’s better” or would you avert your eyes, quickly walk past, and act like you didn’t hear them? As far as I’m concerned, it’s a no brainer, and not even from the sales point, from the common courtesy point.

Come and visit us. It will be a
fund day for the whole family.

Well, all three of us are going to be there again today from 11:00 – 3:00, so if you happen to be in the area, please stop by. By the way, if you already have copies of my books, and you want to have them signed, please bring them with you, and I will be happy to sign them.

Okay, I have a few things I need to get done before I have to get ready to go, so I should get a move on. I hope you have a blessed day, and happy writing!