A little update

I forgot to post on here--and MySpace--about my booksigning event I had on Saturday. Sorry. My bad. It was hosted by the Arts Council for Youth and it was fun. Except for when my tent almost blew over. That was not so fun (damned sandbags). Anyhow, we had an excellent spot near the Main Dance Stage. Besides the books, there was music, art, food, a raffle, and plenty of dancing. You can see photos from the Arts Jam Festival HERE.
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I started another AuthorMBA online workshop this week: Feng Shui for Writers: Move Your Stuff, Make a Sale. Sounds cool, doesn't it? I couldn't pass up the price. Why are you taking this, you may ask? Besides the fact that it's geared towards writers and us writers need all the creativity flow we can get? I'll give you one good reason: have you seen my office? I don't write in here, I type in here. It's obvious I'm in dire need of help and Bella Andre is going to show me what I need to do. I'll be sure to share the results--the suggestions, that is. Not so much the actual physical results. That could take a minute. Or two--with all of you when the class is over.
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A guy contacted me through my Flickr acct yesterday. He's doing a special project on his website about movie studio theme parks and there's going to be a section about the Foxploration Tour in Rosarito, Mexico. He saw my 'great' pictures (the hubby and I took this tour on our honeymoon last year) and asked permission to use them and name me. How coolio is that? "Sure thing, dude," I said. Well, I didn't say the dude part, but close to it. You can check out the photos HERE.
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The writing deadline (scroll down to read) I mentioned not too long ago is now under way. Even though I had a bit of a head start when I made the first deadline (33 pages already completed), I'm finding that I'm writing more than my daily quota of 1 page a day. During the week, that is. I have an hour for lunch at my new job and I consider that to be Prime Writing Time for me. On good days, I can crank out 2-3 handwritten pages. On the weekends? One page. It's been going quite well, although Draven isn't happy. With the way she's been acting up, you'd think I'd ruined her whole life or something. Such is the life of a writer. Lucky me. I'll post a Writing Movement update later this week.

Labels: Book Stuff, Calendar of Events, How coolio is THAT?, Writing Movements, writing workshops

HOLLA BACK!

Labels: Calendar of Events

Calendar of Events: Booksigning

If you're in the neighborhood, please come out, tour some Victorian Homes...and shop.

March 4th, 2007 -

20th Annual Coronado Home Tour/Street Fair: 10am-4pm, Coronado Park - Palm Ln between 12th St and 13th St (just north of McDowell Rd)

TOUR ADMISSION: $12.75 - Buy tickets online HERE or day of event.

Street Fair is FREE to the public.

Sign up to win a free gift! Do not have to be present to win.

Labels: Calendar of Events

Come see about me...

That little ditty from The Supremes was floating around in my head as I wrote this. If you're in the area, please stop by my author events:

SATURDAY, DEC 2ND -

SCBWI Winter Solstice Bookselling Event
10am-12:30pm
Bookmans Phoenix Central
8034 N. 19th Ave
Phx, AZ
Sign up to win a pair of freshwater pearl earrings from Cookie Lee Jewelry.

AND

26th Annual Junior League Gift Mart*
1:30pm-5pm
Scottsdale Plaza Resort
7200 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ
Admission: $7 adults, children 12 and under are free
Sign up to win a $25 Gift Certificate from Barefoot Parties

*This is a 3-day event going from Dec 1st-3rd. I will be there with other childrens books authors signing and selling books for this one day only. For more details about this event, go HERE.

Labels: Calendar of Events

Feelin' Sassy

If you're in the area, please stop by:

Sassy Soiree: Mingling Over Martini's
Thursday Nov 30, 2006
John Q's of Scottsdale
7000 E. Shea Blvd #1990
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
(behind Claim Jumper)
6-9pm
Registration: $55 at the door, $40 11/28-11/29 online

~ Martini Bar with 5 different flavors of martini's
~ Spa Svcs: chair/table massages, manicures, mini-makeovers
~ Cocktails
~ UNLIMITED HORS D'OEUVRES!
~ Shopping!

I will be here with my books, Purse Candy Keychains and Barefoot Parties info on display.

Labels: Calendar of Events

Pampered Shopping Boutique

This is kinda late in coming because I only just uploaded the pictures. I hosted the Pampered Shopping Boutique on Nov 11th and in total there were 11 of us (I forgot to get a pic of C.A. doing his chair massages). Our venue was a clubhouse at a condo complex in Scottsdale. The pic at right is Vicklet Creations...

...and Gurrlie Girl Fashion Jewelry & Accessories

This was the first time for me, so I had high expectations. We didn't have a lot of foot traffic, although we had some people come thru. We did everything we could to advertise:

~ sent out emails to friends and family
~ posted the event on Craigslist and other online newspaper event calendars
~ posted an annoucement on my blog, my monthly newsletter and in the Calendar sections of my websites.
~ left flyers all over the place.
~ handed out flyers while I was doing a booksigning event the week before
~ supplied the vendors with flyers so that they could pass them out to friends, family and co-workers.
~ posted a couple of flyers near the mailboxes at the complex.

And still one vendor--I'm not going to say who because I'm above all that--was ticked because she "paid all this money and nobody came."

Point One: The vendor fee was only $15.

Point Two: A few people came thru. Whether they bought anything or not, I don't know. I didn't make any sales and apparently, neither did she.

She left two hours later.

6 of us stayed later, ordered pizza, hung out and talked. During the course of our meal, it was revealed that the unhappy vendor had made some other pithy comments.

"You need to get your customers weeks in advance."

"She's the one who planned this whole thing. She should've taken care of all the advertising. We shouldn't be responsible for that." I'm sure this was in response to when I said:

"Did you not get the flyer I had included with the Vendor App?"

"We were supposed to pass those out? I never got one," she says in feigned innocence.

I know damn well everyone got one because anyone that showed an interest in being a vendor rec'd a Vendor Application and a flyer for the event. And when we re-did the flyer three times, I sent everyone an updated version to "distribute to friends, family and co-workers."

I politely--and professionally--thanked her for coming out and the only response I got was "Okay." As in, I-can't-believe-I-wasted-my-time-doing-this type of "okay." What. Ever. Take your negative vibes and be gone, please.

Needless to say, I will never be calling her again on a professional level. The one thing I've learned about being a business owner is that even though you may be part of an event--and the sponsor is taking care of the brunt of the advertising--you still need to do some on your own. Even if I get a big publishing house to buy my series, I know that I'm going to have to do some marketing of my own to get it noticed. I'm not sure how this woman sells her merchandise, but I guarantee she's not going to get any customers by just sitting on her ass and waiting for them to come to her.

For about 10 minutes it bothered me that we had this kind of negative energy at my event. And then I just let it go. Forcibly. Thankfully, not everyone felt the same:

Nikki from Soia Candles saw it as "getting the business name out there".

Erica is a Consultant for Gurrlie Girl Fashion Jewelry & Accessories (picture above). This shopping boutique was her first event and she liked that fact that she'd made other business connections.

Victoria from Vicklet Creations (top picture) would be willing to do it again.

One bad apple didn't spoil the bunch after all. It's just too bad that this person saw this experience as a failure instead of a success. I think it would've been a total loss if no one had showed up.

Then I would've proceeded to slit my wrists until I bled out. Kidding. Just kidding.

Next time, I'll know what to do better. To see more pictures from this event, go HERE.


If you want more info about the vendors in Flickr, let me know.

Labels: Calendar of Events