Listen to the Goofy Blonde!

Me, speaking at the Gayton Library.

Hi there! That’s an actual photo of me speaking at the Gayton Library near Richmond, VA. My crappy dystonia-clenched hand is firmly planted on the podium. Isn’t that awesome?

And my hair even looks halfway decent. Not at all like a possible zombie. Ha ha ha …

Two NY Times bestselling authors in green shirts.

Now, if you want to know more about the speech, I could say just click here for the details, but what the hey? I’ll cut and paste a bit. Why not?

Me, pretending to give my speech.

My husband took the photo. That’s not actually a mic! That’s a lamp. But it was all good. I spoke just fine. The crowd of about 20 or so was friendly, and they actually heard me. And I didn’t have to shout.

When I gave my speech, I had notes, but I hardly looked at them. Just now and then.

I even held up this book at one point and mentioned that I’d said at another talk …

… “As you can tell from the cover, I write cozies.” And they laughed! Yay!

Mainly, I got the message across that authors needed to build their platforms through social media, so they can get name brand recognition. Creating books involves writing the best book you can write, not just writing crap as fast as possible and selling it cheap.

That’s why selling your work through Amazon’s KDP Select program is basically signing up to be a sweatshop worker. Now do you understand why I can no longer pretend that this here blog is my author blog?

Do you see the irony?

I chose to be happy, then I came up with a theory about life being a weird reality show created by cosmic producers.

Then, I realized I was a real writer. I had been all along, but I’d artificially separated my work from my life, by creating a blog based on a reality show. That’s how sad pathetic ridiculous funny or whatever I thought my life was.

I even mentioned the film seminar where I learned about crowdfunding and the Austin Film Festival and how I ran/hobbled down the alley with Frank Darabont talking about Raymond Chandler, while he was going to the award ceremony. And how I met Chris Carter.

So … the bottom line is this blog is superfluous. Don’t worry, though. I’m not going to kill it. The blog will be preserved for posterity. But it must evolve into something more. Because my brand is the sum of all my blogs, but maintaining five blogs is just crazy!

BTW, while we were in the area, we stayed an extra night and toured downtown Richmond. Here are some photos.

33 years and still going strong. Aren’t we awesome?

Dec. 1 was the 33rd anniversary of our first date. Isn’t that crazy romantic AND awesome?

Awesome fountain!

He loved animals.

That’s his name! Capt. Charles S. Morgan.

Cobblestone streets!!!

Awesome flag! Are my Irish roots showing?

Isn’t it ironic that we didn’t get a picture of that flag in Ireland.

Especially given the awesome story of the flag, which I’ve recounted here (and I quote):

The awesome story about this flag is that the green represents the Catholic Irish, the orange represents the Protestants, and the white represents the hope of peace between them. Isn’t that awesome?

I think there’s a message in here for everyone, if you look for it. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

BTW, I’ve added another perk for big spenders to the Sam McRae Mystery Series Indiegogo campaign.

Please consider liking the Facebook page.

I’m also on Pinterest, and I still need to make a thingy for my sidebar! :-O

Now, here are some links of possible interest:

How long before your doctor refers you to a computer?

This will make seeing the world even harder. Thanks, assholes terrorists.

The revolution was televised.

Didn’t I say that on the other blog?

Finally, from Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar, this horribly amazingly relevant quote and video:

“The prime goal is to alleviate suffering, and not to prolong life. And if your treatment does not alleviate suffering, but only prolongs life, that treatment should be stopped.”

Dr Christiaan Barnard