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.

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 20th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry I have been MIA for the past two days; I’ve been busy with marketing, writing and reunion stuff. Yesterday I hunted for classmates until my eyes crossed. I got through the M’s. Let me tell you, we’ve gotten creative in searching.

While we were at the meeting and talking about who we were still missing, when one of the classmate’s names came up a reunion committee member mentioned that the classmate’s dad passed away recently. We searched online to see if there was an obituary, and when we found it, we went to the “He was survived by…”, found our classmates name and the town he lived in, then went on White Pages and got his phone number and called him.

The whole process took about half an hour, which isn’t too terrible, but times that by the hundred classmates we are still missing… In some cases, where there is simply no bread crumb trail to the classmate, we are hunting for their parents, siblings, spouses, other family members, whatever we can. We only have two months left to find these folks, and very soon there needs to come an “I give up” point, but I’m not there yet.

Okay, I only have a few more minutes. I have to go get ready for the book signing at Canterbury TalesForever in Peddler’s Village. I need to be up and running by ten, it’s a fifty minute drive, I have to stop at the store to get candy for my basket (and lunch for my belly), and I still have to shower, do my hair and put on make-up. I won’t be getting dressed up today like I usually do, but I’m excited about what I’ll be wearing.

My “Christina Paul Books” T-shirts came in, and I will be wearing mine for the signing today. My banner came in as well, so wish me luck for figuring out how to hand the dang thing from my table. I brought fishing line, and I think I should be able to rig it with the fishing line under the table cloth.

Don’t forget, this weekend is the Scarecrow Festival at Peddler’s Village, so it is going to be a lot of fun. Please, if you have time (and don’t live halfway around the world), come check it out. It’s fixing to be a picture perfect day. The laundry and yard work can wait another day. Come out, have fun, and stop by to say “Hi”.

Gotta boogie. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

There’s a chill in the air…

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 – 

Who would have thought sitting outside, for six hours, talking to people would take so much out of you? Both Saturday and Sunday when I came home from the books signing I crashed. I was out cold for two hours and then I still went to bed at my normal time. I’m still tired now.

 

So yesterday’s book signing went considerably better than Saturday’s. I signed around ten books and several more folks took my card so they can get the books on Kindle. I did check my month to date report on KDP and a book was purchased in the past two days, so I guess someone was telling me the truth.

 

Only one of the other two authors scheduled for yesterday’s books signing showed up. She was a lovely woman named Sally Gerth, and her book was a memoir. In a few short years, Sally lost her entire family, including her husband and only child. Her book, Sit it Out or Dance, is the story of that painful time in her life and her decision not to “Sit it Out” but to “Dance”. For the FB folks, you can find the book on Amazon by typing Sit it Out or Dance in the search, and it is the first book that pops up. For the Blog followers, here’s the link.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sit-Out-Dance-ebook/dp/B00DSXJ1Z6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379934686&sr=1-1&keywords=sit+it+out+or+dance

 

 

I was chatting with one gentleman yesterday who happened to live in my town and he asked me about a writing group. I told him I was hoping to get one started. I REALLY need to talk to the library director. September’s almost over and I still haven’t had a chance to call him.

After putting on a pot of stew to simmer, I will be spending my day tackling the insurance papers. I still have HOURS of work ahead of me to match up each line item with an item on the receipt. When they called me on Saturday, I told them I was still working on it, and they asked if I could try to get it back to them by the end of the week. I said I would try. I work on it until my eyes cross and then I give up for the day.

 

Blog readers, if you have a chance, please visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Christina.Paul.Author, so you can see all the photos and their captions from the scarecrow festival. (FB folks - the blog has several photos scattered throughout this post.) I hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

       

 

The bench, our bench, looks so lonely doesn’t it? But, I just can’t bring myself to sit on it like we used to. It just wouldn’t be the same without you.

It was this very bench where I first saw you, where I stopped to help you when your skate broke. This was where we stopped after are third date, where we shared our first kiss; and on that cold December day when I asked you if you would spend the rest of our lives together.

 

From this bench we watched our children and then our grandchildren play in the park directly across from us. We sat and fed the birds like old folks were supposed to do. I miss you sweetheart. Life has been so empty without you. The only comfort I have is knowing you are in a much better place, not suffering anymore, and one day soon I will see you again; then together we’ll find a new bench where we can make many more wonderful memories.

 

It didn’t take ten minutes, but the story was done. Unfortunately, now I’m a little sad. When I saw the photo, I thought for sure I’d write about a chill in the air and leaves crunching beneath my feet, but then this story came out. I was seeing the bench through an old man’s eyes, reliving his fond memories and feeling his sorrow. I doubt I’ll ever be able to figure out how my brain works or where these images come from.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

It’s moving day…

 

You have 10 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 18th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

 

Brrrrr!! OK, this morning has gone from chilly to downright cold! Not quite ready for this yet. I took the dog out this morning and there was a light dusting of frost on the ground and I could see my breath.

 

Today I will be getting everything ready for my book signing this weekend at Canterbury Tales Forever in Peddler’s Village in New Hope, PA. I will be signing copies of both A Second Chance and Taking Chances from 2 pm – 4 pm on Saturday, and from Noon – 2 pm on Sunday.

 

I arranged to be there this weekend for two main reasons. The first was I figured I was pretty much guaranteed good weather by choosing a weekend in late September, and second, this weekend is the annual Scarecrow Festival, which usually draws a large crowd. I have included a link below so you can read about the scarecrow festival if you’d like, but in a nutshell, all the shoppes are decorated with scarecrows of every shape, size and form; and it is the kick off weekend for the scarecrow contest which I believe is judged right around Halloween.

http://www.peddlersvillage.com/festivals/scarecrow_festival.aspx

I think it would be appropriate to decorate my signing table, so I need to go rummaging through my holiday bins in the basement and put together a theme/display which captures the mood yet doesn’t take up a lot of space. I’m pretty sure I have a pumpkin I can use as my candy dish and a skull cup for my pens. I really have no idea what is still down there – what did and didn’t survive hurricane Irene. We’ve had storms this time of year two years in a row, so I was too busy cleaning up the aftermath to worry about decorating my house for the season.

 

If you are interested in coming to the event, and I hope you are, directions to Canterbury Tales Forever is on my website.

 

http://www.christinapaul.webs.com

 

Bring the family to check out all the cool, funky and scary scarecrows. Listen to the bands playing. Indulge in the pie eating contest. Try your hand at pumpkin painting, and take a moment to swing by my table to say “Hi”.

 

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Something strange was about to happen at the grocery store

(Thanks to K. Fritz, friend and fellow author, for this challenge)

 

What was that noise? It sounded like high pitched whispering. I look around trying to place it. There is no one in the isle, that’s why I choose to shop late on a Tuesday night, so I don’t have to deal with people. I shrug it off and proceed with my shopping.  Lettuce, check, tomatoes, check, cucumbers, two for a dollar, forget it.

On to the cereal aisle. I walk about four steps into the isle and here something behind me fall. I look. Two boxes are on the ground. There is no one behind me. Hum, I must have bumped them as I passed. NBD. I go and pick them up and continue about my business. What else do I need? Dang, I really need to start making a list. OK, think. Three meals plus side dishes. I grabbed some chicken, some beef and some pork and go hunting for the sides. Let’s do stuffing with the chicken and rice with the pork. I should probably do potatoes with the beef. Do I have any at home? Forget it, I’ll just pick some up before I leave. Rice and stuffing.

OK. In the rice aisle I hear the whispering again, and then some giggling. There is no one there!! I’m losing it! I need to get some sleep. Stuffing, veggies and then the potatoes, I can’t forget the potatoes, and then I’m going home!  I enter the stuffing isle and there, right in front of me a box of stuffing comes flying off the shelf and right into my cart. More giggling…Screw the groceries, I’m out of here now!

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Your mission today, should you chose to accept, is to scare me. Even though I am not a fan of horror novels, I would like you to write a scary story and share it.

 

You have 10 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.