I Survived Avon Park Spring Book Binge, But Did Avon Park Survive ME...?

So I made it to Avon Park this morning to set up for their first Spring Book Binge at their community center. After the heartbreak of not selling any of my works at Gainesville, I was afeared of how things would go this time.

...

Well, I got better.

The drive went faster than expected given the distance - I worried I left too late in the morning - as there wasn't as much traffic that early on a Saturday. I got there just at 9am with enough time to get set up for a large table display. I was able to use the big book wire stand this time, for one thing.

Alas, the retractable banner I've had over the years just doesn't want to stay upright. I dread it has run its course. I will need to see about getting another author banner - or table covering - of some form.

I don't think I will ever get my hair figured out

The community center is about the size of my library's general meeting room, so it had decent floor space for the twenty or so authors appearing. Included in the mix is RM Hamrick, whom I've met for previous NaNo writing events before the controversies ended my tenure with NaNo.

The event ran from 10am to 4pm, and we had a decent cycle of turnout. I was able to promote my works - there were a lot of questions about the Strangely Funny anthologies - and even made a few sales.

(Doing a head count) Okay, I traded a Funny Locations with another author Nicole LaBrocca for her novella Shadows of Betrayal; sold three copies of Funny Locations, one copy of Strangely Funny VIII (after I wowed the customer with how the Murder Hornets story came to be), and my last print copy of Strangely Funny I (Sarah, Gwen, got any I can order in bulk???).

I did miss a purchase because my PayPal electronic account is outdated: the card reader no longer works and I'll need to get a chip reader to replace. I do hope the lady follows through and purchases the Mardi Gras Murder book off of the online retailers.

Also, Avon Park's Community Center is just across the parking lot from the Avon Park Public Library... and as a librarian, I am compelled to visit each library I see, during which I dropped off a two copies of my latest books to see if they were interested in adding them to collection.

Not in picture: the Amtrak train tracks to the left.
Apparently it's not too noisy, but the vibrations may shake
the bookshelves from time to time...

It's AVON PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY!
Support Your Local Libraries, Florida!!!

In all respects, today was a good day.

That said, on the drive back I swung through Frostproof - a small Polk County town that is way off the main highways - for several reasons: 1) when I studied Florida history in the second grade our history book used Frostproof as a model community to describe the state, so it's been in my mind for almost my whole life, and 2) it's one of the few Polk County libraries I've yet to visit (Polk City and Dundee remain on my to-do list). Alas, by the time I got to Frostproof the library was closed, but the ice cream parlor Frostbite was still open and I got a butterscotch sundae (yum).

If I do this book event again, I will need to write another book and get published soon...

(struggles to get the princess cheetah storyline back up to speed)

Avon Park: Spring Book Binge Local Author Event

Well, someone talked me into this: I've signed up as a local author to appear at the Spring Book Binge on March 29th in Avon Park FL.

...

...It's just north of Sebring.

...

...and it's south of Lake Wales. Sheesh, just drive down US 27 and keep your eyes open!

  

I'll be hawking Funny Locations and volumes of Strangely Funny! 

Please show up! At least let people you know in that area about this event, thank you!

Being an Author at Lake Wales Public Library 2024

With it being National Library Week, Lake Wales Public Library asked me to present as a local author, to talk about the writing process and getting self-published.

It was a small turnout, maybe because it was still early - 10:00 AM - and early in the week. Hopefully the other local authors will see bigger attendance.

Got to talk about what I feel are key elements to writing - Time, and Inspiration - and discussed my more popular stories like "...All Others Pay Cash" and "War of the Murder Hornets".

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY, Y'ALL.

Local Author Event at Lake Wales Public Library April 9 2024

Every second week of April is National Library Week, and each public library - city or county system - will have special events to encourage our communities to show up and read out.

Lake Wales Public Library plans on hosting a week-long Local Authors appearances, and I've been invited to present my recent work Funny Locations this coming Tuesday April 9th at 10:00 am.

If you can't see the link to the library calendar, let me post the info:

Date:

April 9, 2024

Time:

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Location:

Library Lobby

Address:

290 Cypress Garden Lane
Lake Wales, FL 33853

Link:

Sign Up Here!

They would like for you to sign up so they can track the turnout, thank you.

Lake Wales should be getting a decent showing of local authors - several of my fellow members of the Writers 4 All Seasons group were invited, along with some from the Lakeland Writers chapter of FWA - all week long, so please if you're in the area do show up and support your public library and your local authors!

If you're not in the Polk County / Central Florida area, still check out your local library during the week of April 8th through the 13th for your library's activities!

(mutters to self) Now I gotta find that Florida tie I wear for library events...

I Survived Bartow's Writers Block. Oh Boy, Did I Survive...

So yesterday was the inaugural street fair in Bartow FL for local authors to promote their works and help fundraise for Bartow's Community Service Center.

And, hoooooo boy, when I say "I survived," I am not kidding.

 The event organizers - as part of Main Street Bartow promoting street fairs on weekends to encourage local business and community events - had hoped for a large turnout of customers and costumers, as they had promised a costume contest and pet-friendly activities.

And for the first couple of hours, it wasn't TOO bad, considering how hot and humid the weather can get in central Florida in the middle of May. 

By noontime... One big NOPE about being outdoors without air conditioning or even fans/blowers to help cool the tent areas. Even in the tents, covered from the sun, you couldn't get away from the fact the street you were on was turning into an open-air oven. The humidity turned into a brick wall. You couldn't get up to move except for the fact that it was too hot to sit still.

Smarter people than I brought portable or rechargeable cooling fans, only to have their batteries run out. That's how hot it got.

I started plans on designing tent covers with sewn-in solar panels charging up ceiling fans you could mount inside the tent frame. (I've been informed someone may have beaten me to that)

We didn't get the big crowds I've seen for their annual SyFy street conventions in mid-Februarys (and THOSE could get relatively hot and bothersome, but tolerable). Almost no one showed up in costumes, except for one author promoting a fiction work about a zombie war in 19th Century Europe, dressed up in the woolen uniforms of that era. I was amazed that guy didn't collapse from heat stroke.

We did our best to raise money for the community center, but there was little else we could do. Finally, before 3:00PM, the organizers okay'ed an early end to the street fair to let us pack up and flee for air conditioning by 3:30PM.

To Sean and Lori, thank you for hosting, and I am sorry the climate was against us. This would be a fun thing to do for local authors, except we gotta consider better times of the year. Some of the attendees were offering suggestions - my personal one is to build everything in downtown Bartow up to five stories high and install street cover roofs with solar panels to charge up massive F-16 sized blowers mounted at ground level to keep everything air conditioned during these street fairs, but we'll need federal aid for all that - and some of the more practical ones deserve some thought.

With that, sharing a few more photos of people I met at the event and pics from other attendees I'm stealing off Facebook...

Big hello back to Bill Hatfield, whos been at many of these
statewide authors events over the years! He's still recovering
from major health issues, best wishes and healthy hugs to him!

These photos were from earlier in the day, when the heat and humidity wasn't wilting everybody in sight.

That fan was the biggest reason why these authors were smiling on-stage.
That bottle of water was there in case any of them burst in flames.

These were the other local authors invited to the event. Several of them did dress up as part of the scheduled events - there was a Jane Austen-themed tea party - and the author who dressed up as Anne Rice was kind of the default winner of the "Dress As A Famous Author" contest.

We did our best to print out a big check to the Bartow Community Center!

Big shout out to Marie, my neighbor at that Fountain Lakes apartments so long ago, who was there at the event volunteering for the food vendors and providing overall moral support. You can tell the humidity was getting to me at that point.

So that being all said and done... oh man I need another nap ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh right, uh, until the next writers event... KEEP ON TYPING, YOU FIENDS. ZzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

Bartow Authors Event, Saturday May 20th. BE THERE OR ELSE I WILL YODEL AT YOU. IN KLINGON. BACKWARDS.

Oh, I should have mentioned this sooner.

I will be one of many local authors at the Bartow Writers' Block Party and Street Fair happening this Saturday May 20th from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Lemme get the details here:

All types of activities including, painting with a friend, kids coloring with a Klingon, a Jane Austen panel, guest speakers, music & so much more.

We are inviting people or their pets, to dress up as characters from books. This also includes your favorite author like Herman Melville, HG Wells, Mary Shelly, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The skies are the limit on who you want to be. It could be from a movie that was adapted from a novel or a character from the book itself, including the author.

It's a pet-friendly event, but make sure your alligator is emotionally prepared to attend.

There will be painting activities for kids and teens, I believe.

Food vendors will be in the area, so lunches and refreshments are available (bring moneys for books and food, don't eat the books eat the food).

I may have drink mugs and mousepad giveaways. I need to check supplies.

To the nine people I think follow me, hope you can make it to Bartow this Saturday!

I Came, I Saw, I Sold Books: Local Authors Event 2016

Well, as I warned ya, I went to the Local Authors Event in Wesley Chapel at the Barnes & Noble this afternoon.

I set up two of my ebooks - The Hero Cleanup Protocol and Body Armor Blues - for FREE download via the B&N shop, still good for the rest of the weekend by the by, and packed up some books and signage and bookmarks and made my drive up to the store. Silly me, I forgot to bring display stands for the books themselves as well as the bookmarks. Good thing my table companions were Gwen Mayo and Sarah Glenn from Mystery & Horror LLC publishing and they brought a bookmark stand.

And so, as threatened, I documented the atrocities no no uh abbatoir ack wrong word hold on avalanche hmmm maybe... here we go, thesaurus suggests the word affair. Anywho.

getting set up at the check-in desk

they would have us at tables in appropriate shelf areas.
they don't have a large enough spot for all writers to sit together.

looking down into the first floor. More writers checking in.

Inspirational writers - should have gotten names, sorry - in the Lego area.
I just noticed I keep angling my smartphone too much on the right side.

action shot of writers getting set up at their table!

Gwen Mayo and Sarah Glenn already getting customers at the table

the store manager set us up in the Science Fiction shelves

 

there was a traffic jam at this corner table...

Two of the local authors - ach, I need your names - waving hello, hope they had fun today.

I think that's Madonna Wise pitching her latest history
on Wesley Chapel itself

after two hours of talking up our books, we were getting a little silly...

By the by, my parents had stopped by to show moral support - and shop for books, they're avid readers - and so Dad got those last set of photos for me. Thank ye, Dad.

As for the day itself, I talked a few interested shoppers into the FREE downloads I was offering for the weekend as part of promoting this day, as well as getting one buyer of the History And Mystery Oh My book (the buyer liked that we had two stories in it nominated for Agathas in the Short Story category).

It'd be nice to get more people showing up at these things, sad to note most of my friends are either in south Pinellas or Polk Counties, too far away for them to make the trek. Le sigh...

Reminder: Local Authors Event in Wesley Chapel THIS Saturday May 21

Update 5/21: I am here now. I will document the event as best I can and post a follow-up later tonight. Please check back then. Hope to see you all here in Wesley Chapel!!!

One more time: I'll be at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Wiregrass Mall in Wesley Chapel FL, north of Tampa, on Saturday May 21 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

If anybody wants to show up - and it will be great to have people come and support the local authors and readership in general, please and thank you - please do.

As part of this weekend event, I've gone and turned two of my eBooks into FREE downloads for Nook eReaders: Body Armor Blues and Hero Cleanup Protocol. All I ask if you download either one and if you like the stories, please give them a review. More reviews means increased shopping views.

Click here to the B&N store link.

Click here to the B&N store link.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Reminder: Barnes & Noble Wiregrass at Wesley Chapel, Saturday May 21

The Local Authors Signing event. The store's address is:
28152 Paseo Dr Suite 100
Wesley Chapel, FL 33543
In case you want to GPS it on Google Maps.

It'll be from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, it's a two-story bookstore and they've tended to put us at tables on the second floor. There should be about twenty-five others, and I know that this time around some of the authors from the anthologies Strangely Funny and History and Mystery Oh My will be present.

I hope to get a lot of people to show up to support local authors in general as well as my own work, and there's a lot of different genres - romance, teen, travel, true crime, inspirational, science fiction, fantasy, mystery and thriller - to choose from.

Reminder: Barnes & Noble Local Author Event May 21st

Just noting that the Barnes & Noble Wesley Chapel bookstore has the official notice for their Local Authors event on Saturday May 21st from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Link here for more info:

Here's a map to the location, it's north of Tampa just east of I-75 on State Rd 56 (it's the first exit past the Pasco County border if you're driving north on the interstate).

There's going to be about 25 other authors there to promote their works, and it would be real nice if we could get a lot of people showing up to support our writing and to support reading and books in general.

Thank ye! I hope to see you all there (yes even the Chinese Spammers I kept getting about 5-6 years ago, c'mon people it's only 3000 km away!)

Official Invitation to Wesley Chapel Barnes & Noble on May 21st

I have been formally invited to attend this year's Local Authors event at the Wesley Chapel Barnes & Noble bookstore on Saturday May 21st.

It will be in the afternoon from 2pm to 4pm, and most likely on the Second Floor as always.

This year, I will have a few more ebooks to promote as well as the third volume of the Strangely Funny series.

I really would like to see my friends in the Tampa Bay area show up for moral support.

There will be more details to follow.

Happy Easter and Some Writing Announcements

Just saying, this Easter Sunday, that I want to announce a few things.

1) Mystery And Horror LLC publishing has accepted another humorous short from me for their upcoming Strangely Funny III, their popular ongoing humor/horror anthology series. Still waiting on word for when the release date will be - hopefully soon in April - but meanwhile here's the cover for the upcoming print:

2) I've been invited back to the Barnes & Noble Local Authors Event in Wesley Chapel, FL this year. This event will be on Saturday afternoon during May 21st from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. There hasn't been final confirmation and paperwork yet, but I should get something soon.

3) Finishing up a pair of stories for the FWA. The story I hoped to submit to the "Hide and Seek" anthology - a science fiction idea I've had for a decade called "Problem Solver" that needed to be finished - is turning out too long. It's twice the length of the word count, so there's no way I can whittle it down. So I've started a second story about finding the Book With the Blue Cover in the Library Infinite (What's the classical Greek for "Infinite"? Same word, just pronounced a bit different?) which I have to keep below 1500 words.

Documenting The Local Authors Event 2015

So, busy day today.  Driving in to Wesley Chapel for the Barnes & Noble Local Authors' Event.  Selling my wares, Last of the Grapefruit Wars along with the mystery anthologies Strangely Funny, Mardi Gras Murder and History and Mystery OH MY...

So.  Documenting the atrocities as it were. :)

Getting the selfie in as I set up at the table.

The store had tables set up on the second floor in designated areas.  I was set up in the Fiction area with two authors sharing the table and the conversations with the passers-by.  Take a bookmark, please!

Getting moral support from the editors in charge with Mystery & Horror LLC, publishers of the anthologies I had on display today.  Hi Sarah, Hi Gwen!

Sarah took a photo of me autographing Grapefruit Wars for her and Gwen.

The tree was sharing the table with us.  It had already sold all its books and was helping with the promotion of oxygen into the air.









Much of the event was spent sharing and chatting.  A few teens stopped by to ask about the writing method, getting published, stuff like that.  A few people took bookmarks.  Hopefully that means they'll download the ebooks sometime soon.

So how went your day?

(hurries off to finish writing some sci-fi shorts to submit somewhere soon)

TOMORROW! I Wanna See 100 Million Of You At the Local Authors' Event.

Final reminder:

Just to shill to the seven readers of this blog, I'll be at the Barnes & Noble in Wesley Chapel FL this Saturday May 30th from 2 pm to 4 pm selling my works.

Location is 28152 Paseo Dr
(southwest corner facing the intersection of
Bruce B. Downs and SR 56)
Wesley Chapel, FL 33543
p: 813-907-7739




Just as a reminder, this is my stuff (available online through most book retailers, especially Amazon and BN.com).

My collection of short stories, published 2003.

E-published, available as download.
I'm currently working on other stories
based in that superhero 'verse.

Contains my short "I Must Be Your First",
which has received great reviews!

Contains my short "Why The Mask".

Contains my short "The Dread Secret of
The Battle Of Los Angeles," based on a
Real Life incident in L.A. at the start of WWII.

E-published, available for download

E-published, sequel to "Welcome to Florida".

I would LOVE to have people show up and support local/independent authors. (hint: buy my books!)  We need to encourage more adult reading (buy my books) and we need to support our bookstores as fun gathering places (buy my books).

I hope to see everyone in Wesley Chapel this Saturday.  All one hundred million of you.  Right?
(p.s. buy my books)