I Want To Go Back to Bed

It's only just before 6:30 AM and I've had my morning coffee, but as I look at my to-do list and the chaos spread across my desk, I want nothing so much as to clomp back downstairs, kick the decorative pillows off the bed, crawl under the covers and sleep for six more hours.

I think I will be in better shape come Monday. The book launch will be over and I plan to complete two big projects this weekend that have been taking up some time.  That will, theoretically, give me some breathing room.  Not a lot, but I'll take what I can get.

With my launch at 7 tonight, I'm going to get there around 6 with my friend Pam to set up.  Which means I'll need to leave the house around 4:15 so I can pick up the cake and food. So I'm not even showering and thinking about getting ready until about 2 o'clock today.  I need to be super-productive before then, however.

Remember the Million Dollar Home page I wrote about? (See this entry).  I checked my stats yesterday and after only 2 1/2 days I had nine hits.  I'm not sure whether those are random hits or perhaps readers of this blog following my directions to my slot on the page and clicking on it, but I'm encouraged that at least a few people have found it. 

Uh-oh, Lucy is at my feet, giving me her growling "mrow!" which means "Pet me NOW."  I must obey.  I hope to see many of you at the launch tonight! =)

Fox 8 Morning News Interview

I had my book interview today on Fox 8 Morning News.  Cindy Farmer interviewed me and she's just as cute and friendly in person as she is on TV.  Thinner though.  Not that she looks at all big on TV, but she looks a whole lot slimmer in person so that "the camera adds 10 lbs" thing must be true.  Bear that in mind if you saw ME on TV this morning. =)

The interview flew by.  I feel like I only said 3 sentences although I'm sure when I get home to watch it, it will be much longer.  She asked me how much fun was it to write the book, did I have a favorite story, and asked about us getting a second cat.  I talked with my friend and fellow writer Pam Cable right after the interview and she said it went really well. But then again, Pam's a good friend. <grin>.

Funny thing, I ended up wearing almost the exact same gray suit with the same black boots as Cindy Farmer.  Luckily, I had a bright orange sweater on, so I lost my jacket so we didn't look like the bobsie-twins.  I wore more makeup than I usually do and hope when I see the interview I won't have a Tammy Faye Baker look going on.  That would be a shame.

Books sells are going well.  I've sold about 16 through Amazon, I'm meeting an area pet sitter today to sell her some for X-mas gifts for her customers, and the Book Launch at the Green Bean is tomorrow night.  I'm finally getting excited about it.  I think it will be a good turnout, the weather should be decent, and I'm really, really hoping both of the cats Happy Hills Animal Shelter is bringing will find a home.

My book selling goal for the night is to sell a minimum of 30, 50 would be fantastic and anything over that is gravy.  I'll tally up the numbers for you on Friday.

Meanwhile, I'm up to my eyeballs in work.  Two huge projects that I'm kicking myself for not staring work on sooner.  I'm hoping to get a pretty close to done draft of one of them today.  I've got my children's book critique group tonight at 7 PM (it's 11 AM right now) and I'm considering just staying here in GSO and working all day vs. going home.  However, I think I left my e-mail open at home because I just checked it and had only one message--highly unlikely. And there were a few things I needed to get.

Speaking of stupid things, here's one.  I locked myself out of my car last night. I taught a public speaking workshop (a small group, but so much fun.  I hadn't been in the mood to teach but the people in class were so open and fun it ended up being a really good night.  I love when that happens) at GTCC, and had to call campus security at 9 PM when class ended.  But a high five to them. They were there in under a minute and had my door open in about 3.  Very efficient.

Interview Queen

I dub today, "Interview Day."  I conducted a 10 AM interview with a jewelry artist for an upcoming article in Art Jewelry magazine on "How to Sell Your Work to Galleries."  (Still searching for a snazzier title...feel free to e-mail me ideas!).  Then I was interviewed at 11:40 by Mike Moore of WLOE/WMYN about my book. Unbelievable, but I forgot to mention my book launch this Thursday.  (Note to self:  Never, never interview from now on without notes).  Then I have a 1 PM interview with a NY literary agent for a piece I'm working on for Writer's Digest 2006 annual Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.  I've got 2 interviews scheduled for tomorrow for various works in progress, and one more on Friday.  For someone who prefers not to talk to people, I seem to be out there this week.

I'm focusing on not stressing myself out to the point of incapacity.  I have so much due this month.  Two unexpected but really good projects presented themselves, but they're both large, and they both have tight deadlines.  This wouldn't be a problem except I let some work slide last month, thinking I had all this month to work on them.  Not smart.  Procrastination is a bad, bad thing.

I was so stressed yesterday, I couldn't calm down for almost an hour.  Blair and I took a walk and about 10 minutes into it he asked, "Are you feeling better?"  "No," I answered, and picked up the pace.  I got some work done and then we drove into town for lunch and to do grocery shopping.   I was highly critical of our waitress for wasting time (bread not on the table, didn't take our order when she brought our drinks and we had to wait for our check).  I kept watching the clock, thinking how much all these little delays were setting me back and that I shouldn't have gone in the first place.

I don't want to be that sort of person.  I am not a "live in the moment" person but I really would like to be.  I used to be religious about meditating for 15-20 minutes every morning and I found that made a huge difference in my concentration and peace level.  I need to start it again but I'm not following through with the commitment.  I'll do it for a day or two, then I'll allow something to come up and I won't do it.  The key, for me, is to mediate at the same time every day. That way, it's something my mind and body start to adjust and look forward to.  I'll  have to pick either a super early AM time or late at night though, because my schedule varies so much from day to day, I don't think I could ever pick a time like "9 AM" and have it stick.

No time like the present, right?  I've got 30 minutes until my next interview, so perhaps I'll grab a cat and just sit quietly and breath.

Oh!  Speaking of cats, please say a prayer for Spike.  He's our neighbor's cat who we adore and our neighbor called this morning to say he's been missing for several days.  We're worried he got locked up in a shed by accident.  But he's a beautiful, friendly, funny cat and I'm nuts about him.

The Million Dollar Homepage

Have you heard of the Million dollar Home Page?  It's the brainstorm of a 21-year old in Britain, looking to pay for college.  He created a home page of a million pixels and sells advertising space on the page for $1 a pixel (minimum order of 100 pixels).  His goal is, obviously, to raise a million dollars. 

He's already at close to $700,000.  More than that, the site is getting huge press attention and has about 700,000 unique visitors a month.  Click here to read the Nov. 22, 2005 write up on the site in the Wall Street Journal.

Why am I writing about this?  Because I took a gamble and decided to buy some pixel space.  And a gamble it is.  I was only willing to shell out the $100 for the smallest allotment of pixels, which means you can't properly see my graphic.  (However, if your cursor passes over it a message pops up that reads: "Cat Humor Book - Erma Bombeck of Cat Writers!")  But the site is new, people are intrigued, there are testimonials from people who have seen a marked increase in traffic to their site since signing up for a slot on the page, and even the WSJ seemed to offer an endorsement.  So, I'm in.  Best scenario, new people find my book site.  Worst case, I'm out one hundred bucks.

To find my link on The Million Dollar Homepage , go to the site and look about halfway down the screen for a large red "15" on a blue background.  My cat icon is to the immediate top right of the number 15.   If you need more help, look for the "Web Hosting" block, fairly large, with a small heart in a block underneath it.  Go down about four big squares from there and you'll see the number 15 and move your cursor to the right and you'll find me.

I've only been up for a day.  After a month, I'll see if I can track how many hits are coming in from the site.