The Great Green Hope

Okay, so if you have kids under the age of 5, you might know him as "Boz, the Friendly Green Bear Next Door"(TM) and have listened to him teach numbers and colors and shapes and also gratitude prayers and show how God's world is good. In fact, you probably know more about Boz than I do if you have children younger than 5 years old. But I did something today I'm pretty sure most of you haven't, I actually met Boz. Not only met, but had my picture taken with (no you will not be seeing it here and if I can get my hands on the Polaroid(TM) neither will any one else) the Green Bear Next Door (TM), and spent a grand two hours watching his smallest fans have a chance to meet him in person too.

I went in to work early today so I could take pictures of the event while my co-workers who were on shift took care of actually running the store. There were so many adorable little kids, but one in particular stood out. He was the first one there with his Mom this morning, waiting to meet Boz(TM) and he was dressed in a green and blue striped shirt and he bought his own Boz(TM)plushie along for the visit with out 'real' Boz. He was very polite and listened to his mother as best he could, getting his picture taken and hugging Boz(TM) and claiming his stickers and picture with a big smile, but that wasn't enough for this fan. Oh, no. Every opportunity that presented itself for him go to back and hug Boz(TM) he took. He didn't push his way in, or make other kids wait, but any time he saw a moment to go back and be with Boz(TM) there he was. And because of his zeal for this Friendly Green Bear, he got to dance with Boz(TM) and sing with Boz(TM) and pray with Boz(TM) too. All because he had decided that time with his favorite character was worth waiting around for, and because he just couldn't get enough of his hero. The other children were either shy and didn't really want to go back for extra hugs or were more interested in other things in the store, but that little guy was tenacious and having gone back to the children's section with his mother twice, he'd decided everything he wanted was up front, and everything he wanted was Boz(TM).

No wonder Jesus used children as examples, I wish I had half the determination that little one had to spend time with Christ that he had to spend with the Green Bear Next Door.

Another good thing that came out of my going up there to take pictures is that we are going to do a direct mail-out to customers who bought fantasy books about the signing like we did for this Boz(TM) event. I had been half asking for such a thing for over a week but wasn't really getting anywhere with it till today because we could see what the turn out was from direct mail verses turn out from radio ads. So, now we are going to do both radio ads and direct mail, and I am delighted. Also, the staff in the main store are beginning to plot how to decorate and what to do on Saturday and how to make the authors feel at home.

This is fantastic, this is what I had hoped for!

And we are going to be able to put the authors up front, not in the back though it does mean splitting them up which would be better anyway I think. The only stipulation the owner made is that the two authors we carry and sell well are not to be set together, the lesser knowns are to be paired with the 'known sellers' so that means that Bryan Davis and Wayne Thomas Batson are not to be at the same table. Somehow, if they aren't exhausted, I see them having fun with this.

Thanks for all your continuing prayers---we also received today the promotional DVD and bagstuffer/ bookmarks for the tour. I haven't seen the DVD (Boz played all day) but the bookmarks are handsome! I snitched a couple for myself.

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Second Coat on the Banner is Done

Isn't that a lovely, cryptic thing to title this post? I thought so, and I'm in a cryptic mood. I blame this on Summer inventory, which is kinda like Summer school, we are doing it again because for whatever reason the first time around, it didn't work. So, to fight off the dead boring effects of inventory I have become very non-committal about things to co workers. Conversations sound something like this:

Them: "Hey, is this a book?"

Me: "Does it look like a book?"

Them: "Uh, kinda."

Me. "Ah. Interesting."

Them: "Where does it go?"

Me: "Where do you think it goes?"

Them: "On a shelf?"

Me: "Ah. Interesting."

Them: "But which section does it belong in?"

Me. "What section do you think it belongs in?"

Them: *POUND POUND POUND*

Me. "Owwww"

We are having oh so much fun with inventory. Thankfully, my crew is hard working and willing to push to get sections done so most likely this will end before August.

Right now the big excitement in store is that BOZ The Green Bear Next Door(TM) will be coming to the main location this Saturday. Think 'Christian alternative to Barney(TM)' + less annoying than the purple dinosaur and you'll get the idea about Boz. It is definitely a coup to have him, he's on tour this Summer up and down the East Coast. We are all working hard to get the word out but we haven't had the lead time with this the way we have with the Fantasy Four Fiction Tour.

Oh, my boss told me today that ads for the tour will start airing on the radio next week, and we had someone really interested in stopping by take information this week too. Most that we've talked with have been disappointed because they are going on vacation that week. Almost feels like a conspiracy! Right, well, I think I'm tired because I'm now rambling.

Night all.

Scribe

Thank You! Thank You!

To everyone who has been praying for my sanity, the sanity and safety of the authors, and the success of the tour, I say thank you. Things are beginning to break. We finally after far too much weirdness received The Lion Vrie in all three store locations and the staff is really getting excited about the event. Something about having all the books and having them up in the end cap (display) seems to fire the imagination and cement the fact that we are really going to do this in approximately three weeks. And yes, Artchick I did hug the book when I saw it was in. ;)

I admit that the staff is divided into two camps, the first and more realistic thinks that the turn out isn't going to be that great--everyone's going on vacation, there's less store traffic in the summer anyway and we will be competing with Barnes & Noble (TM) who will be hosting the event the day after us--and then there's the other camp who thinks that we will have a good turn out because the tour will be dragging momentum with it, because four authors at one spot is unique, and because we will be all praying hard that the Lord send everyone who is suppose to be there. But those of us in the second camp would love some extra support from the you fine archers. Delight as well as nerves are running high at the moment.

Tuesdays are for Trouble

With the amount of running around I did today, I deserve an award or a treat or something extra-special. Mainly because the running around was to pay bills (medical) and to find an Anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law (four different stores I went to for that one) for the party they had tonight. And did I mention it was 95 degrees out here today, with the humidity so high I'm pretty sure I saw a bird swimming across the sky? Not exactly a day that you choose to be hopping in and out of a car and running in and out of buildings, but I finished my errands. Maybe not with style and flair the way I would like, but I got things done.

I also splurged at Target(TM) and bought Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12 bundled together for less than fourteen dollars, and picked up a smaller CD wallet (only holds 24) so I can stick my favorites in my purse without the weight of 40 CD's pulling my shoulder out of the socket. Now, I just have to narrow my favorite 40 albums to my favorite 24 albums.

The party for my brother and sister-in-law was very nice. Very casual, very family oriented, and Beth had some lovely things to say about Dave, and he was very touched and responded in his warm witty way, though he wasn't as eloquent as she.

Right now, I want to write Iasson. I want to work with my bad boy and see if I can't get at least Rhu to take back her accusation that he's "Hamlet in Space" though, I am rather fond of that brooding Prince of Denmark. I always have been.

~Scribe

Long Day At Work

It is hot here, and humid like you wouldn't believe. Okay, maybe you'd believe it, but then you'd go inside and hide from it. At work today the ruddy air conditioner couldn't keep up and it was 80 to 85 degrees INSIDE. Optimum temperature for paper books to be around is 70-72 degrees, and dry. Things were curling all over the place, and we were sweating like we were running around outside. Gah. The rest of the week doesn't look a whole lot better. We are starting inventory again (moan) and today I managed to get all NLT Bibles inventoried and straightened, so that is a nice chunk done even in the heat. We also got a end cap up for Creation Fest which is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week. All those lovely bands, all that lovely music, and it's going to be taking place in the meltable heat of this week. I don't envy the people who have tickets at all.

Also, I talked with my boss about several things this week including advertising for the event and he said that he's meeting with the local Christian radio station this week (well someone from there, I mean you can't really meet with the station itself that would just be weird) and he'll talk with them about what he wants.

That is cool. I mean I know we do advertising with them quite a bit, but still, my event with radio air time is really cool.

And he's also going to talk to some 'print media' about it.

I can now relax and stop worrying about the fact that I didn't really get anywhere with the media myself.

Productive Sunday

It has been a productive, if rather boring day. We had church here, really good teaching about asking, seeking, and knocking and the relationship found in prayer. Artchick brought up the song by Garth Brooks Unanswered Prayers and while I don't like all of that song, I do agree that some of His greatest gifts, are the prayers He answers with 'no'. Although some of the hardest times in my life have come from 'no's as well. Mom went through breast cancer instead of being healed miraculously of it, my grandmother died a long and painful death from esophageal cancer instead of going quickly into eternity, and my father lost his job instead of being one of the ones that were allowed to stay at his company. I had to watch those I love more than anything else in this world suffer and hurt and I was the one that could do absolutely nothing to rescue them from their pain and their heartache. And I don't know why Christ said no to my asking for my Mom to be healed without surgery, or why He didn't take Grammy sooner and painlessly, or why Dad had to be humiliated and wrestle with the darkness of thinking that he had failed our family. But I do know that He loves me, and while I struggle with really truly believing and understanding that, I know that my ability to understand His love doesn't change it.

I watched or partly watched Shrek, Hitch, Curse of the Were Rabbit, and Miss Potter today while working on some things for the signing. One is now 98% finished and the second is 75% finished so I feel like I have a better hand on those things. I still need to get dimensions of the actual table we'll be using at the signing and figure out if we can jam, I mean put all four authors behind the one table. But all in all, it was a productive day.

I've Never Had A Book So On'ry

Well, here I am, three weeks out from the signing, and still the distributor is saying that they don't carry Christopher Hopper's second book, The Lion Vrie. They don't carry it, it's not available, it does not exist.

Which is rather interesting considering I got the information to order the book off of Barnes & Noble's website, and then ran the ISBN # through our ordering system when I ordered books for the store two weeks ago. I got confirmation that the book was coming in, and five days later the handsome green-clad volume was in my hands. The cover art is as nice as Rise of the Dibor though a little more ominous.

Hmm. The book that I ordered through them, my own personal copy which I paid for so I could have it to read and talk to customers about, apparently doesn't exist. Which begs the question, what is it that I ordered, paid for, and have been showing to customers that are interested in Christopher's books?

Anyway, we are three weeks out from the event at this point and I don't, really don't need this headache. Please pray that the COMMUNICATION between the distributor and my store clear up and that the BOOK come in on time, preferably BEFORE the day of the signing. Thanks.

~One harried Scribe

Just in Case. .Thanks to Neil Gaiman

I love to go and lurk on Neil Gaiman's blog, I don't really enjoy too much of what he writes but the man himself is fascinating not to mention brilliant. He was tackling the unhappy subject of what happens to an authors work when they are no longer around to protect it and has several powerful arguments for taking the time to make sure that your work is protected and that those you love the most have the right to make decisions regarding it, no matter what stage it is in. Take a look for yourselves.



http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html -

I TIED!

“It’s not fair!” I sobbed, pitching the inkwell. It exploded against the white rock wall and bled darkness over the smooth stones, “It’s not fair! I worked just as hard as he did! Harder even!” Wetness scorched my cheeks and I shuddered with the sobs “Do you hear me?” I tipped my head back and ran my shaking hands over my bald head “I am better than he is! Better! One day you will be sorry, so ruddy sorry that you left me here!” I shrieked as voices retreated. “One day he will fail you when need him the most and then you will wish that you had taken me but it will be too late, too late.” My knees buckled and I sat down, holding my head. “You’ll be sorry, you will be, you will be.”

That's my entry for "Intense Emotion Suspense Technique" over at Enter the Door Within and I tied with Amy Browning for this technique, which means I get my choice of the The Door Within, Rise of the Wyrm Lord, or The Final Storm, lost chapters editions. I think that I'm going to go for The Final Storm. But I'm still debating.

The Trouble With Hopper. . .

. . .Is that the distributor that we were told to go through is telling us that 'we don't have The Lion Vrie' even though I ordered my copy through them less than a week ago. This is getting to be a comedy of errors. Please continue to pray for COMMUNICATION to be smoothed out on this point. My boss is understandably frustrated. And I'm the one with my neck out there going 'Hey it'll be fun, we'll get good turn out, remember how well we've done with Batson and Polivka? Well now here's our opportunity to have four authors come at once and have a real busy and fun day.. . "

I'm startin to feel the tickle of steel along the back of said neck.

In other news, the Neuro-opthamologist a clean bill of health and said that the inside of my eyes are 'beautiful' that there is no seen problem with the optic nerve as was feared, and that the trouble with my left eye might be astigmatism. I go back to the eye doctor in a few weeks to have that checked. But no more doctors for right now. I need a break.

Present, Present, Present. . .oh no! Tardy?

Yesterday I spent the afternoon mocking up posters for the Fantasy Four Signing at work using graphics supplied by the multi-talented Mr. Batson , and then making color copies of them at Office Depot (TM). Neither of which went smoothly, but I did get to pet and cuddle someone's little Rot/Shepherd mix waiting for my color copies, poor little guy was so hot they had to let him come into the store or he'd have heat exhaustion. His owner explained as soon as he had his copies, they were going to Petsmart(TM) next door for the little guy to pick out squeaky toys. It made me want to have a dog again. It also kept me from beating the color copier to death with my bare hands. After an hour struggle with the complicated machine, I finally surrendered and had the clerk make the copies for me at a third more cost. *Sigh* Tomorrow, I'll get the signs down to the main store and out to the satellites and we'll finally have something up 'in store' which we really should have had two weeks ago, but I am not going to stress over this.

Christ knows what He is doing.

We do have Sharon Hinck's book Restorer in limited quantities, and The Door Within, Rise of the Wyrm Lord, and The Final Storm as well as Raising Dragons and the Dragons Among Us books in larger numbers but Christopher Hopper's books are not yet in our stores. I hope they come in this week, the display I have up in my satellite store looks nice, but I'd be happier with it if we had his Rise of the Dibor at least.

To Arms! To Arms!

Did you know, that the English long bowman was expected to be able to fire 12 to 15 arrows a minute

and hit his target dead or close to center, or he was not considered proficient? (That’s one arrow every 4 to 5 seconds)

Or that training for archers started at the age of seven? (And I thought my schooling was rigorous)

Or that the range of a long bow fired by skilled archer was between 200 and 400 yards? (That’s between 600 and 1200 feet. In comparison, a football field is usually 360 feet in length)

How about the fact that fired at close range an arrow from a long bow could penetrate 4 inches of seasoned oak? (Go look at the thickness of any door in your house and think on that again)

Why in the world am I regaling you with all these facts? Well, in a way this is an invitation to battle, and more than that, an invitation to string your own bow and provide some much needed cover fire for myself and all the other harried bookstore staff working on this Fantasy Four Signing Tour. If they are experiencing anything like what I have this week just trying to get the books in, they have got to be weary and frustrated and pretty much ready to kick something.

It took coming home and outlining all the impasses and annoyances to Mom to make me understand that there is more going on than just the normal problems associated with getting new books into the store, but I finally got it. We are under attack. Now, I am not one to jump at shadows or to blame Satan for what is clearly a person’s own willful nature at work, but when things get this out of control and family members start questioning what is going on, then I do pause and go ‘hmmm, what am I doing that gotten the Enemy so annoyed.’’

I believe the answer is, I’m supporting authors who have the Gospel tucked in their work. Any time the Gospel goes out and people get the chance to hear it the Enemy is not pleased. I suppose I got into the mindset of ‘This is going to be fun, this is going to be a lovely fantasy book signing and that gives me an opportunity to play with decorations and long sharp metal pointy things and music in the store, and to also show that fantasy continues to do well for us as a store so we will continue to keep it in.’

In sharp contrast to that, the reality is “This is the Gospel going out into the secular fantasy realm, these are four dynamic brothers and sisters in Christ taking a message of hope and of love out to a fandom that Sunday Morning Christians tend to shun or mock. This is the net, being lowered into the vast sea of the lost, and a chance that it be so full to the breaking that those four can’t pull it back into the boat on their own.

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but it’s a mission’s trip in disguise.

So, I shouldn’t be surprised that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. From our computers being ‘blind’, meaning I can’t see the titles to order them through the distributors when I look at their inventory because we are so behind on updates that our archaic computer system doesn’t recognize them, to my co workers forgetting that this is happening in less than five weeks and looking at me with glazed, blank expressions when I bring it up. I would scream, but that tends to scare customers.

So, I am asking for your prayers not only on the day of the signing, July 14^th, but right now as well. And, here are some of the targets for you to train those lovely prayer ‘arrows’ at:

COMMUNICATION

Please pray that everyone who works at the bookstore, myself included, would be able to communicate clearly with one another and the customers about this event. It’s amazing how garbled things get even with my writing them down and making sure people read the flyers. And the co-workers I have are highly intelligent, professional, and knowledgeable people. So, please pray about the clarity of communication. If we can’t get the word out, we’ve slit our own throat. Maybe the Enemy knows that.

FAVOR

I am starting my least favorite part of the signing, I’m going to be calling the newspapers and radio and talking with people letting them know that this lovely tour is coming to the area. Now, the owner is going to be doing some advertising, the organizers for the signing are doing advertising, but it’s my job to see what kind of ‘free publicity’ I can drum up. I basically talk about how wonderful the authors are, how great the books are (that’s the easy part) and then tell them about the store and the times and dates of the event and that’s where it gets sticky, because no print media wants to give free publicity. And that is what I am asking for, which leads to some interesting conversations. You’d think I’d have a thicker skin by now, but I don’t. So please pray that Christ give me favor where He wants me to have favor and that I’d have just the right thing to say to them at the right time to open up whatever door He wants opened.

Last year, I was talking to someone in the local radio media, while we wound up paying for a spot of advertising instead of getting it for free, I so impressed the woman I was talking to with Mr. Batson’s book, that she bought several copies, one for her son and the others for his friends. When I talked with her again about a different author, she told me how everyone had loved Wayne’s book. I was thrilled, and so was she. That’s the kind of ‘open door’ that I love.

STAMINA

From start to finish, I spend over 100 hours on any given signing, and that doesn’t count how many times I repeat the information or share anecdotes with interested customers or cajole shy readers into venturing out to meet the authors. I have the ‘staging’ to do which usually requires off the clock set up the day before, not to mention making or finding things (that’s fun, but it takes time), and then the break down and rearranging of the store after the signing. Then there’s the talking to the media, often time the writing of the ‘blurbs’ that air on the radio (because I’m the one that can recite the information in my sleep) and the gathering of information from publishing house reps so the owner can order the books through the publishers instead of the distributors for better discount. I do all that, on top of the regular duties I have. I am blessed to have wonderful co-workers that do whatever they can to help me. But I do get weary. So, please pray for stamina for me and for strength, my goal is to be as excited about the event when I talk to the thousandth person as I am when I talk to the first.

You know, as I’ve been typing this thing, I believe that the Lord has impressed on my heart to ask that you pray these things not only for me, but for the authors as well. They are going to need to communicate clearly with each other and their fans on this tour for it to go well. You can imagine too the logistics nightmare it could be getting four people and their gear from one event to the next with nothing getting left behind and to leave and arrive on time. And they are going to need favor, Mr. Batson’s shared some of the rejection and frustration they’ve all ready gone through just trying to get bookstores, Christian in particular, to host the signings. And they are most definitely going to need stamina

So please, cover fire for me and cover fire for them. It matters so very much. And keep checking back, I’ll start updating more about the signing and of course post pictures when I have them.