Mr. Smith made a charming salesman...

FWB ArtWalk was, in a word, amazing.

To see strangers walking down the sidewalk with my book in their hand was an unbelievable feeling.  All my sales so far have been anonymous thru Amazon and Smashwords… to see the people who were taking my work home was humbling.  I hope they like it!

I also met so many great people – the owner (Kristie?) at Ivey Ladies Boutique is an amazing person who balances being a great mom with being a great business woman.  The owners of Shangri-La were fun and talked with us a bunch about the spooky pinewoods of New Jersey.  How about the guy who said he usually only bought Kindle books but bought a paperback copy “for the bathroom”?  I loved you all.

For the Kindle Guy: End of Mae is on Kindle for .99 (I was trying to tell you that)… but why can’t your Kindle go in there too?

My favorite experience of the night, and probably for the month, involved a woman and her daughter.  I was walking into a shop to ask for change when I saw a teenager holding a copy of my book.  I was surprised and happy of course and I said, “Hey!  I recognize that book!”  Just as I said it the mom said, “Oh my goodness, I recognize you from the back of the book – you’re the author!”  We had a good little chat and for a few moments I felt famous.  It was awesome ;p

For that mom and her daughter: Thank you for that – I hope you like the story – feel free to email me and let me know.  I’d love to hear from you!

To sum it up, Artwalk was a great experience. Turns out my husband is the perfect salesman and all I had to do was sit back and enjoy.  We sold more books than I expected, surpassing our goal and making us excited for next month.

By then we should have paperback copies of No Money Marketing so things will really be hopping…. I better bring more change!

If you’ve never been to ArtWalk down there before I advise you to come early for parking.  There will be live music, free wine and snacks and lots and lots of art to peruse.  We went last month just to check it out and it was amazing.

I’ll be back later tonight to post how it went, but until then – I’m off!  Places to go, people to see and tablecloths to make ;D

P.S. I’m grateful to my besty friend Margie for teaching me how to do mobile decorating – I’m using what you’ve taught me tonight! xox

Map to Ivey Boutique

Please give her video a look and a like – she did a fabulous job and I adore it.  I’m a Cady fan!

I couldn’t help myself today and wound up releasing two books, numbers 4 and 5.  Number 4 is getting sent away as a prize for a fellow Bookcrosser.  She won a signed book to keep and a labeled and numbered one to release herself.  That is on its way to my winner April in Alabama now.  Can’t wait to have it logged in ;D

That was going to be my Wild Wednesday Release for today.  On today’s agenda was also stopping by the shop where I’ll be set up for this Friday’s Artwalk – Ivey Ladies Boutique.  I was planning to drop a copy of End of Mae off as a gift when inspiration hit me – I needed to release a book there.  Hence the double book drop.

On other news, I passed the 200 mark for likes on my Facebook page, shot up over 200,000 places on Amazon the other night and we’re about to pass the 20,000th view mark at Dandilyon Fluff.  Things are going well but I haven’t done it alone – I’m really happy and grateful for every little bit of help I’ve received from everywhere.

And speaking of help, thank you to Tarah over at Country Book Bumpkin for lending me her blog for a guest post.  I wrote on what inspires writers to continue at an often lonely and thankless profession.  That post was coming at the end of a very long, busy day so you are getting the raw exhausted quality from me ;p

That’s it for tonight!  We’re halfway done with Mae Awareness Month and as much as I’ve had fun with it I’m really looking forward to talking about other subjects soon.  Hang with me – we are on the downward coast ;D

I got up and rushed around washing laundry and cleaning.  Then it was rush to the Post Office to mail off prizes from the Book Release Party (so much fun!).  After that it was a mad dash to work.  After work I ran home, changed clothes and then pedaled my bike (still determined ;p) a few miles away to the Bad Girls Art Gallery for a meeting.  Rush home from that to try and finish my guest post for the Country Book Bumpkin as promised, give away a paperback on my Facebook page and now…. write my own blog post.  Whew!

Perhaps it was all the determined rushing that inspired my guest post – I wonder at times why do I break myself over these books.  There’s lots of easier ways to earn money, so it’s not that.  It’s a question I ask myself every time I stay locked up in my hot house hunched over the laptop instead of going to the beach.  The answer became apparent as I worked on the guest post – I write because I’m crazy!  This excerpt from the guest post sums it up;

“I couldn’t stop the stories if I wanted to.  They come, unbidden, like phantoms full of secrets.  Like a medium I find myself serving two worlds – this one and the one waiting to be written.”

I hope you’ll stop by Country Book Bumpkin tomorrow and say hello… and for now… Good Night!

Last night’s Facebook party was amazing – I never thought I could have so much fun on a wall.  The games were creative and the loot just kept getting passed out – I’ll be mailing off my prizes tomorrow on my way to work.

Check out Book Release Party Page to get in on all the upcoming action.  A hint for all you authors – due to last night’s party and the promo leading up to it news of my book was spread to over 8,000 new people.  You need to look into this.

On another note, I promised that when my page reached 200 likes I’d draw a random person to receive a paperback End of Mae.  Last night I broke 200 during the party so I’ll be drawing names ;D  If you haven’t already liked my Facebook fan page now is a good time to do it so you can be in the drawing.  There probably won’t be another until I hit 500.  I’ll draw a random name at 10pm central on the 15th of May.

As far as tonight’s entertainment is concerned I have another flash game created by my talented daughter.  This one is called My Mae Dress Up and hails back to the days of paperdolls and Barbies.  If you take a pic of your favorite dress up look and post it on my Facebook page you get an extra entry for tomorrow… have fun!

Come join us at the party!!!

Since I have to go to work I’ll be leaving the book there around 11:00am.  I’ll take a photo and post it on my Facebook when it’s officially been dropped.  Then I get to sit around and see who comes for it ;D  This book is signed and numbered as #3.

I don’t have a photo of the drop yet so I’ll be back tonight to fill in the details and do the actual photo.  In the meantime, here’s a photo of the new, redesigned No Money Marketing cover.

So watch Facebook for the actual drop and I’ll tell you all about it when I come home tonight.  Now I have to get ready…

Speaking of other worlds tho, I am thrilled to be featured over at Notes From An Alien with an interview by Alexander M Zoltai, a wonderful writer and friend in two worlds.

Alexander is the author of the book, Notes From An Alien - a thought-provoking book that seeks to expand our world vision.  I am thrilled that Alexander shared his blog with me and would like to thank him for taking part in Mae Awareness.

Please read his fabulous interview and explore his blog – it’s one I subscribe to myself – always worthwhile reading.

Bea: Homeless, alcoholic Piney.  Originally she had quite a long side story but I wound up killing her off early for simplicity.  Of course, I don’t think her body was ever found so she may be back.

Mae: Our heroine, the small town writer looking for a big time story.  A natural observer, she has been sitting back and assessing her odd situation.  Once she feels like she has all the facts she will take action.

Heylel: There’s more to him than one would expect.  Dig deep into esoteric Bible lore for more details about his origins.

Dr. Smeltzer: Edmund Burke said,  “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” and whenever I read those words I think of Dr. Smeltzer.  I don’t know why I hate him so, but one day soon he will receive his just rewards.  He is lost in his own addictions and sits by while darkness gathers.  How appropriate it will be when it finds him.

Finally there is Ms. Prym, one of the scariest and most interesting characters in the book.  She scared me so badly during the original writing that I put the manuscript down for about five years and wouldn’t touch it.  Later, during an interview, I surprised myself by connecting her to my old 5th grade elementary school teacher Ms. Cole.

Ms. Cole had short, dark hair ala Liza Minnelli instead of Prym’s severe iron colored bun but otherwise she was the same.  I believe to this day that she vehemently hated me for reasons I never understood and am grateful she wasn’t allowed the same freedoms as my character Prym.  Her legacy lives on in literature.

Prym also has old roots.  Heylel refers to her as Alichino, one of the thirteen demons that guard the eighth circle of Hell, or Malebolge, in Dante’s Divine Comedy.  As a demon she can easily change her shape and persona to adapt to her master Heylel’s wishes.  At the close of End of Mae it appears that she will be required to do just that since Prym has fulfilled her purpose.

The bigger question is who is Heylel and why does he have one of the thirteen ancient Malebranche doing his bidding?  And if Prym, or Alichino, is with him then who is left guarding Bolgia Five in the Eighth Circle?

Prym is definitely a puzzle and to help spread Mae Awareness my daughter created this puzzle.  See if you can put it together and see her idea of what Prym, or Alichino, looks like when she’s let her hair down.  Play it here!