As you readers can see from my newsletter headline, I have been a very busy author. First of all, my wife Ruth & I would like to congratulate our daughter April on the pending birth of our first grandson which will be during early December 2006. His name is Westley David. If I got this wrong, the grandson's name, I will send a correction. Many relatives and friends had a baby shower for our daughter, April, on Saturday, 21 October 2006 at Maryland. The turnout of relatives, friends and well wishers was large and their presents filled the back of my wife's Ford Expedition from the floor to the ceiling, and covered the area of the trunk and the third row of seats, which were folded down. There were also some gifts stuffed between April and her niece who occupied the second row of seats of the vehicle. I would like to also thank co workers of my wife and co workers of our daughter, April, who either sent or brought baby gifts for April's baby. In regards to the large number of baby gifts, I guess one day in the future, some lucky lady of the family could be told that there is a sporty car parked outside as a baby shower gift. Seems that over the years, the baby showers just get larger and larger and us men folk are seen at the baby showers nowadays also. I was seen out back manning a barbecue grill with edibles that defy counting.

I had the pleasure of giving April an autographed book as a baby shower gift, which was authored by the following author and a co worker of mine. I have read excerpts of this book and it is a great and humorous read, besides a great self help book for mothers with new borns: 101 Things Your New Baby Will Do: A Self-Help Guide for First-Time Parents
Denise Carroll, ~ Tate Publishing & Enterprises 18 April, 2006 ~ ISBN: 1598862286 ~ Paperback. I believe that the book retails for $10.95.

Then I met Terre Sadler at the Waynesboro Book Em event. She lives at Chesterfield, Virginia and not too far from where resides. Since Terre and I shared a table at this event to raise money for the Waynesboro Police Dept to give free books to school students, my mouth was like a run away train about book writing and marketing. It is amazing how I do hours of talking at fund raisers, book events and other community meetings for free. It is interesting to meet some speakers who bill by the minute for what flows from their mouths, whether it be beneficial or not. I have found that by sharing information(at no cost) there are always great promotional benefits when you least expect them. My jaw hit the floor when I read Terre Sadler's blog. Well, my jaw hitting the floor could be called the temporary derailing of my mouth. But before I expound too long, here is Terre's blog. I will say no more:

By Terre Sadler (Southern Sass) http://www.terrejsadler.blogspot.com/

This is Terre's book:
TITLE: Tell Me That You Like It
by Terre J. Sadler (Ficitonal Thriller about kidnapping, forced into prostitution, a rescue five years later, and coping with being back in society again) ISBN: 15980-0474-3
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc
Publish Date: 30 April, 2006
Binding: Paperback , 292 pages
List Price: USD 13.95


The Book'Em event in Waynesboro was a success and a tremendous learning experience for me! It was the first time I had ever been "face to face" with readers and had the opportunity to tell them about my book. I would have been a "fish out of water" if it hadn't been for my new friend, Willie Tee! We shared a table, and Wille has been marketing his books for quite some time, and is an expert in all of this. He was gracious enough to teach me alot - and I learned even more just from watching and listening to him as he sold his books. I think we both did fairly well - but I give him all the credit for ANY book that I sold! It was a real blessing to be able to spend the day with him and get to know him. Be sure and check out Willie's books, Winds of Destiny and the sequel - Winds of Destiny-The Keepers of the Secret. Both are available through Amazon.com and bn.com. And, you can read more about him at www.authorsden.com/willietee <http://www.authorsden.com/willietee>.

I experienced another "first" during the weekend, and that was participating in a panel discussion with other writers at the conference. It was a question and answer format - that was a bit disorganized at first, but we all pulled it together somehow and it went just fine. I am used to public speaking - but have never done it in relation to my writing. So, now I have an idea of what to expect. I had the privilege of getting to know Sharon Baldacci (author David Baldacci's sister.) She is a best-selling author also and was there promoting her book, A Sundog Moment. I had met her briefly the weekend before at the James River Writer's Conference, but was able to spend some time with her at the Book 'Em event and found her to be warm and inviting and I look forward to seeing her again sometime in the future.

While in Waynesboro, Marilyn and I were able to spend some time at their annual Fall Festival Art Show. The weather was glorious! And, it was nice to relax and amble along the streets, stopping at each vendor to enjoy and appreciate their work. It amazes me how many people are so gifted in expressing themselves through painting! I also couldn't escape the connection of what they were doing, and what I was doing at the Book 'Em event. I'm sure that they would agree that creating the art work - like writing my book - was the EASY part. The selling and marketing required are the things that make the experience like WORK!

So - now it is back to the grind! Back to writing and implementing the things that I have learned from all of this. I hope to have a new website up and running soon -and of course, it will include a link to this blog. Be sure and check here daily, as I will be posting entries on a more consistant basis now that I have finished with this event. I am so glad that I am pursuing this dream of mine. It is not an easy thing - but it is definitely rewarding.

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake." Marie Beynon Ray
posted by Terre @ 2:28 PM <http://terrejsadler.blogspot.com/2006/10/back-from-bookem.html> 0 comments