Book Signings

I'm getting ready for a multi-author book signing event on May 7. I thought it might be fun to put up several posts dealing with book signings.

How to schedule a signing.
What the best venues are.
Preparing for a book signing event.
What marketing items are the most popular with readers, and how to acquire them.
What to have on your table.
Solo or Multi-author?
What I learned from a Multi-author book signing event.

Is there something I missed that you would like me to cover?

My Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe

This is so good, that it would be wrong not to share it. So here goes.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of shredded carrot
2 tbs. lemon juice
1/2 cup crushed pineapple (drained)


1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
1 teas. salt
1 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. cloves
1/2 teas. nutmeg
1/2 teas. allspice

3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup of golden raisins
1 cup of walnuts

1. Shred carrots.
2. Mix with lemon juice and pineapple. Set aside
3. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix well
4. Add oil and beat.
5. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well blended.
6. Add raisins, nuts and carrot/pineapple mixture. Blended.
7. Pour batter into 2 prepared loaf pans.
8. Bake at 350. 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz. package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
16 oz. powdered sugar
1 teas. vanilla

In a mixer, blend together softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until fluffy. Spread over cool loafs. For an added touch you can sprinkle crushed pecans or shredded coconut on top.

Create a Playlist to Write By

I created a playlist for the series I am working on. I find music affects my emotional mindset. My playlist sparks my imagination.

You can create your own playlist at www.mixpod.com
Type in the search box 'soundtracks'.

Here is a playlist I put together I call 'Music to Write By'.

Can a Main Character be both an Antagonist and Protagonist?

Jessica Nelson over at BookingIt Blog, posted an interesting piece about rooting for the good guy....the guy that starts out as a bad boy. You know he is the hero in the story, and so as you read about him you begin to hope he will turn himself around and do the noble things a protagonist should.

An example for me is Rochester in Jane Eyre, perhaps my all-time favorite novel. He is dark, broody, and self-centered. He is also crushed inwardly. If you haven't read it, it is a masterpiece of human flaws and human passion. Everything is wrong about him. And so you root for him in hopes he will be redeemed by the gentle soul of Jane.

Another is Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. In the BBC 2009 film version, I rooted for Heathcliff as I did in the 1939 version with Sir Laurence Olivier. Sir Laurence played a kinder Heathcliff. But British actor Tom Hardy brought out the worse in this character. Heathcliff slipped slowly, then rapidly when Cathy married Edgar Linton, into madness. He too was dark, broody. But he was also vengeful and extremely cruel. In the end, he is never redeemed from his demons. The character I ended up rooting for, and feel sorry for, was Isabella.

If you were to write a sequel to Wuthering Heights for the Christian fiction marketplace, how would you tell Isabella's story?

Have you read a classic where the characters took on the roles of both protagonist and antagonist?

Wednesday's Wanderings ---- Locations from 'Surrender the Wind'.

Clovelly Harbor

On the coast of Devonshire

The Manor ~ Ten Width, which Seth Braxton inherits is not far from Clovelly, a historic fishing village on the cost of Devonshire, England. 

The streets are cobbled, and there is no car traffic. To tour Clovelly, you have to walk. Tumbling down a 400 foot cliff,  there are age-old whitewashed cottages, gardens, and inns. What better place to be the nearby village to Ten Width than Clovelly?

Can you imagine spending a few nights at the Red Lion Hotel on the quay, taking in the sea air, and the tranquility of village life. I often wondered while writing Surrender the Wind, what it would be like to live in such a place, away from the hustle and bustle of life in Maryland.

I am not so fortunate as to have traveled to England to the locations in my novels. I can only dream and thank the Lord for the Internet. But I have explored all the places in my books near me, such as the Potomac River, Harper's Ferry, WV, Frederick, MD, Western Maryland, the Potomac River Walk, and Annapolis.

Have you traveled to the locations in your novels? Is there a place where you would love to visit from a favorite book?