Halloween Preparations

Halloween came early Thursday night when some people decided to egg the cars on our street.  I didn't even know about it until late Friday evening, when a neighbor called to tell me my car had been hit.  I'd been inside all day, still laid up with my cold, and hadn't left the house.  My neighbor said the car wash he took his car to "worked like the devil" to get the egg off his car.  I went outside with some Charlie's Soap and warm water and had 80% of the egg off in about four minutes.  That soap is worth it's weight in gold.

Mischief aside, Halloween preparations continue at the Harris household.  Blair unfortunately has a staff meeting Monday night and may be a bit late getting home, so he prepped a "Fake Frank" for me to use until he arrived.  He's awesome looking.  The photos here show him inside our home, but Blair has it rigged so that we'll lay Frank on a bale of straw (covered to look like an operating table) and then I can pull a wire that runs under Frank and he'll actually sit up.  I plan on having Blair make Frankenstein noises into a tape recorder ("Uuuungh") that I'll play as the monster comes to life. 

I'm most impressed with Frank's eyes.  The eyeballs you see here are part of the candy body parts Blair found, but they look realistic behind the mask. 

As you can see from our dining room table, other prep work is being done.  We're going to fill beakers with colored water and we'll head into GSO later today to buy a fogger machine from Target.  We made fake gravestones last night that we'll post in the yard.  The only thing left is to find me a white mad-scientist smock. 

Happy early Halloween to you and yours.  Uuuunnnnngh!!

Lessons In Stalking Book Launch - Invitation Preview

To the right you'll see a preview of the invitation I'm sending out for my book launch.  I asked Linda Santell, my illustrator, to make up a few 8 x 10 posters to hang around town and while she was at it, had her shrink down the posters to postcard size for mailing invitations.  I think they turned out cute.  I especially like the "Lattes & Beer 1/2 Price" part.  I'm under no illusions as to what will really draw people in.

I'm donating 20% of all book sale proceeds to the Happy Hills Animal Foundation.  They are a local no-kill shelter run by volunteers with seeming unending amounts of dedication.   I'm thrilled to partner with them for this and am actually going to start volunteering with them, as well. I'm not sure doing what.  I just don't know that I can emotionally take working with abandoned cats and dogs.  I think I might break down daily.  But I can do grant-writing, fund-raising, work at animal fairs, and the like.  Maybe build up to actually working on site.  Because I know if I go in now, allergies or not, I'll be coming home day one with twenty cats and at least three dogs in tow.  It breaks my heart to see animals in cages when they're so desperate for a family to love.

Anyway, as I said, I'll have to build up to that.  But I'm thrilled that Happy Hills is bringing two cats to the book launch, both available for adoption.  I would LOVE to see both cats go home with someone.  That would be so much better than just selling books.  I would love to be able to make that my "thing": Every time I hold a book signing, I bring cats for adoption that find homes. 

For those of you in the area, please consider the posting here an open invite.  I'd love to have you at the book launch and please introduce yourself as a reader of my blog.  And remember: LATTES & BEER 1/2 PRICE.

First Cold of the Year

I stopped standing in line for the flu shot years ago because I could never see that it made a difference.  My body has a pre-determined pattern for illness.  I get horribly sick--fever, sore throat, aching muscles, clogged head--every other year, like clockwork.  Doesn't matter if I get the flu shot or not, doesn't matter how healthy I eat or how many vitamins I take.  I could stand outside buck naked in sleet and snow and if it's not my year to be sick, no worries.  Alternatively, I could place myself in a sterile bubble but if it's a year I'm due to be sick, the bubble barrier would be broken and it would be on.

Sadly, this is an on year.  And for the last two days, I thought maybe I would just get the sickness out of the way, early on.  I woke up Tuesday morning with a full-fledged cold.  I hacked and coughed my way through the day, then went to bed early for a glorious 11 hours worth of sleep.  Woke up Wednesday not feeling much better and thought, "Uh-oh, it has arrived."  But, a day of taking it easy seems to have done the trick and the symptoms are fading.

Which means I have another 4 months to wonder when my body will fall prey to the flu virus. 

On a bright note, Blair picked up the Halloween candy last night and hit paydirt.  We found chocolates wrapped as dismembered toes, fingers, and lips--great body parts to spread around my mad-scientist outdoor laboratory.   We're going to spend the weekend plotting out the graveyard for our front yard.  Who says romance is dead?

A brush with fame - Nicholas Sparks

This past Sunday I went to Barnes & Nobles to hear Nicholas Sparks speak.  (He's the author of numerous best sellers including "The Notebook," "Message in a Bottle," and "A Walk to Remember.")  I had to park about a 1/4 mile away from the store and it was standing room only.  Wall to wall people which, not surprising, were 95% women. 

He'd been there signing autographs since 10 and his talk was at 2 and he continued signing after that so I can only imagine the wrist pain he must experience daily from a tour like this.

In order to be seen, he had to stand on a table in the already raised cafe seating area.  To be heard, he was miked.  (Compare this to a "normal" author signing where it's considered a stellar day if you sell 10 copies).

He gave us what I'm sure is a standard schpeal, but he was engaging and funny (and just as cute as his author photo) so no complaints.  He talked for about 10 minutes and then took questions from the audience.  I especially liked his answer to two of them:

One woman said she was a writer and how did she get an agent?  For you non-writers reading this, this is like going to a paint store and saying, "I'm thinking of painting my bedroom. Where could I find some paint?"  Any novice author worth his/her salt has done enough research to know the answer to this question.  And I liked that Sparks handled the question by being polite, but blunt.  "When I wanted an agent, I went to Barnes & Nobles and found a book called 'How to Find a Literary Agent' and I followed the instructions, " he said.  "You write a letter and send it out. No magic. "  Then he asked for the next question.

Someone asked him when the next movie made from his book was coming out and he said not for awhile, because New Line Cinema was trying to low-ball him.  The audience laughed, and he did too, but then he said, "I'm not holding out because of the money.  I don't need more money.  I'm holding out because if I don't make them value the picture upfront by what they're investing in it, they won't give it the attention they deserve.  If I sell cheap, someone may just say, 'Ah, let's just make a TV movie out of it.'"  Sparks shook his head.  "No.  No.  If you're going to do it, do it right.  And that's why I'm holding out."

I took a few pictures but they didn't turn out, although if I had bothered to get the gentleman's name standing in front of me,  I could send him a lovely close-up of the back of his head.

All in all, it was eye-opening to see how a big-name author handled his fans. And a glimpse into the "famous life" so many of us authors crave is not all roses.  I thought his day sounded exhausting and not especially fun.  Plus, there were 300 fans all trying to get his attention and talk to him and have  a "moment" while he signed their book.  I think that would just be completely draining.