"I Know The Author"

I attended my Triad Networking group this morning and a member approached me and said he went for a massage the other day and as he walked into the room the massage therapist was reading my book.  He said, "Hey, I know the author," and the woman talked so much about how funny the book was that this member--a (gasp!) non-cat loving guy--bought 4 books from me this morning to give as gifts to friends.

That's the thing with Lessons In Stalking.  People love it once they read it-it's just getting it into people's hands that's the struggle. Book sales off my website are almost non-existent at this point.  Purely my fault, as I have slacked on marketing. I'm going to work on kicking it into high gear again once we return from England. Being realistic, I know I just won't get that much done on it before then.

I've been practicing my speech for next Tuesday's competition.  It's the darndest thing.  I never have trouble remembering speeches.  I just think of it like telling a story.  But even after rounds of practice I am still struggling to remember the correct order of this speech.  I have no idea what will happen on Tuesday.  I hope to do well and advance to the next round but I'm not overly confident like I typically am when it comes to my speech-giving abilities. We shall see...

I'm heading to the beach this weekend for a writing session with two of my critique group buddies, Bernie and Maggie.  I've been looking forward to this weekend for months. We're sharing a room but going to plant ourselves on the beach (weather permitting) or in the hotel lobby or area cafes and just write our little hearts out. I'm hoping to get through several chapters of Millicent.  I'll set myself a word count I have to write for the weekend to make sure I get accomplished what I need to.

As for today, I've planted myself in the Green Bean for a 2 1/2 hour writing session before my weekly Toastmasters meeting. Then I have an hour to make phone calls before I meet my friends Pam & Michael for lunch, then home to apply another layer of red paint and move from "bloodbath" (see yesterday's entry) to "almost there."

I wish everyone a happy and productive Wednesday.