#83 He Inspires Me

I've had Christmas brain since July.

Okay, maybe longer.

Just possibly, all year long.

So, it's pretty much natural that I would write stories about Christmas. 

I know I've talked about it before but here it is again, live and in living color:

I'm just a little excited about this:

And this:

Because when I first self-published the book, in my haste, I didn't check to make sure whether these things were taken care of by the publisher or the author.

Clearly things like title pages, contents, and page numbers are the author's responsibility.  (And if you purchased one of the first four books sold before I corrected this mistake, just consider your copy a rare collectible).

I've gotten over the fact that it's "just a self-published book" when one of my friends pointed to the back cover:

where a little further down was the beaming bar code and ISBN number.

Perhaps it is a real book after all.

The three stories included are short stories about different Christmas themes:

1. The Christmas fruitcake no one ever wants
2. The glory of a fresh cut Christmas tree
3. The beauty of glistening Christmas snow.

They are appropriate for all age levels.

Click here to go to amazon.com and purchase your copy for Christmas today!  (Or at least, just go to the link and 'like' my book).

#78 He Makes My Day

Yesterday night's events in my house are worth repeating.  Here's what happened:

1. I began making pumpkin puree.  If you follow The Orange Strainer you know that I recently accomplished this feat for the first time.  Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I decided I would do it again.  It was with great strength, eventual pain, and much more time than I'm proud to admit that I cut three sugar pumpkins in half and threw them into the oven to bake. 

Note: No, there are not three pumpkins pictured here.  

2. My Christmas book came in the mail.  Even though it is only self-published, I was pretty excited to see my stories looking as if they'd been authentically published.  If anything, it is inspiration for the future.

If you'd like to purchase my book (please do!) click here.  

 3. I broke my blender.  It was this point when my night began to go downhill.  I had scooped my pumpkin out after it had baked and thrown it into the blender.  After a little pureeing, I went to stir it up a bit.  Then, I'm pretty sure I blacked out.  The shock was too great for me to bear.  The next thing I knew I was staring at a hole that had somehow come to be in my poor blender.

It is for your peace of mind that I have chosen not to post a picture of the remains of the deceased.

Following that event, my blender was then tossed into the garbage and the puree was cast into the wind.

And I may or may not have cried.

4. I made chicken parmigiana.  This is one of my favorite meals on earth to make.  Reason one...because I love pasta.  Reason two...because I love cheese.  Reason three...because I love sauce.  I suppose I could go on, but you get the point.  Somewhere around reason eight is my love for pan fried chicken.    

5. Later on in the evening, after I had vented about my broken blender, my husband looked at me and said, "You're my favorite person."

And that absolutely one hundred percently made my day.

#77 He Motivates Me

In one of my more recent posts I put a lot of blame on the new school year for my lack of blogging.  

Today, I'll tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I love Christmas.  I love it so much that I'm pretty sure I think about it a combined time of 10 out of 12 months of the year (and that's only because I'm pretty sure that eating and sleeping probably add up to two months worth of time).  

Last Christmas, I finished writing the first of a three story Christmas collection.  Of course, at the time it was only a one story Christmas collection.  It was during that time that hubby read an article about a woman who self-published through amazon.com (a website that I would be completely lost without).  She had been rejected by traditional book publishers a countless number of times and when it finally seemed like her book was going to be picked up, she was rejected again.  She wound up doing better self-publishing her book on amazon than if her book had been published the traditional way.

Hubby then told me that I needed to put my Christmas story on amazon.com.  To which I pointed out how silly it would be to publish just one short story.  

That's when he gave me the challenge: "Write two more"

  

I gave myself a deadline and can proudly say that I met it.  I cannot, however, honestly say that it was the soul reason for my lack of blogging.

But between working full-time and writing the stories for the book, I think I'm going to say they were both 50/50 to blame.  

For now, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

If you're looking to get started on the warm and fuzzy Christmas feelings, or you'd just like to show me your support, click below and buy my book!  I've outrageously priced it at $0.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Christmas-Season-ebook/dp/B009V3HAS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351024389&sr=8-1&keywords=bringing+in+the+christmas+season

FYI: You can purchase this book even if you don't have a Kindle, you would just have it delivered to your computer and then it will download to your computer.