Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Guatemala

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What the--?

Some strange information of the past week:

One of WiDo's authors walked into a bookstore and asked if he could set up a signing. The response-- Yes, but it will cost you $250. (He declined.)

I heard about bloggers with over a million followers who earn their living by blogging. (How is this even possible and where do I sign up?)

I visited a church on Sunday where all the women were blonde, beautiful, skinny, dressed rich and looked like they worked out daily. It reminded me of a ms. I'm editing called "Tanned, Toned and Totally Faking it." And I felt totally intimidated.

How to make graduation party favors with balls of cake dipped in white chocolate, with a square of white chocolate on top, dyed red for the school's color, and tassel made from a string of red licorice. This little head was stuck on a stick and voila you have a cute little graduate on a stick.

And then there's what happened at said graduation party. We heard a big thump, a bird flew into the glass patio door. So it was not only graduate head on a stick, it was bird head in glass.

What strange things have you come across lately?

41 comments:

  1. Where is that church?

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  2. Those mini-graduates sound so cute!

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  3. Goodness, you had a strange week. Can't say I can top it.

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  4. I don't even know how to respond to this!!! LOL! Strange this week, hmm...my daughter started a lot of sentences with "when I was a little boy..."

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  5. Gracious, but you've had a strange week. Pay money for a signing? Duh! I've heard about those blogs, too...maybe there is blue cheese on the moon, LOL!

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  6. Very strange indeed. No weird stuff here. Did I speak to soon? Lol.

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  7. Kittie, and what's interesting is that these bloggers are real people known or related to people I know. One is a cousin of a friend of mine. She said the blogger's husband quit his job so she can devote more time to the blog, which brings in over 4k a week. Grrr I am so jealous. It would be fun to earn a living by blogging!

    Candy, omigosh that is so cute!!!

    JL, and I didn't even think it was strange til I wrote this post.

    Ellen, They were!

    Stephen, well I won't say because I don't want to insult a church. It wasn't them anyway, it was me and my own insecurities.

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  8. Bloggers with over a MILLION followers??? That's mind-boggling. Forget a million; I'd be ecstatic if my followers hit triple digits! Can't say that I can blame that writer for declining to fork over his hard-earned cash for the privilege of signing his own books at that book store. How ridiculous. I hope that isn't a sign of things to come. Are WiDo books typically stocked in regular brick-and-mortar bookstores? If they are, I can't think of any feasible excuse for that bookstore to expect payment for a book signing.

    Only slightly weird thing here is a neighbor's cat seems to have adopted us. We already have two indoor cats, and now another cat seems to have set up housekeeping in our yard. (Do you think it might have anything to do with the fact that we've been feeding him???)

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  9. I've been looking into book launch options myself. I've found an option which, if it plays out, should mean I can pull it off at no cost to myself!

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  10. Very interesting week for you :) Mine? not a durn thing interesting except watching the grass turn crispy from the drought :(

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  11. wow a million followers! That's a pretty strange week.

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  12. That is a bunch of weird stuff. The balls of cake dipped in white chocolate sounds fantastic!

    I talk about one very strange thing that happened to me in my vlog this week.

    Jai

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  13. Jai, I will check out your vlog, now I am curious!

    Karen,I believe it is advertisers who pay them the big bucks.

    Summer, Yeah, whenever I start feeling pretty good about my blog, I hear about something like this and lose a couple followers. It keeps me humble LOL.

    Catherine, We've had a ton of rain so I'm watching ours grow. What? Time to mow already??

    Paul, No author should ever be asked to pay a bOokstore to host a signing or an event!

    Susan, WiDo uses Ingram, and other well- known distribution channels to get its books into the brick and mortar stores. I think it is a sign of either the arrogance or desperation of some stores right now.

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  14. Wow. That was some week. (Our ward is "older" so I don't see those kind of women!) I can't believe you would have to pay $250 for a book signing. Just isn't the way it used to be (sigh). And I too have heard that there's money to be made blogging. I'm determined to figure out how! I'd say you should try to do it, too. I think it's a matter of having a focus. My oldest daughter has a great idea, if we can pull it off--if I can even figure all this stuff out. Ah, there's the rub.

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  15. What bookstore would charge an author to do a signing??? It's usually the other way around-- bookstore would pay for the privilege of bringing an author in that will ensure sales.

    We host signings in our bookstore all the time, and so long as the book is orderable into our store and will ring through our register, we can set an author up anytime they want!! Charging someone who can potentially increase traffic in your store is ridiculous...

    Send them to my bookstore and we'll set them up, no problem!

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  16. Pay for a book signing? Pay for bringing customers into their store? Sheesh. The world's gone mad.

    As for that church, I shall stay away. :)

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  17. Shirley, LOL, I'm sure these women are all very nice but they are just too attractive!

    e.a.s. demers, You are a dear. In fact, WiDo has an author in Arkansas. You will be getting a phone call!

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  18. Earning money from Blogging???? Where? How?
    Paying a bookstore to do a book signing..Crazy!
    That church needs to be avoided at all costs.

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  19. I've heard of bloggers making money from blogging--I wish I knew more about how it worked. :P

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  20. How many books would an author have to sell to earn back $250? So sad.

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  21. As long as we can order the books through our system, we can do it, no problem!

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  22. I've heard of bookstores charging for book signings. Seems silly to me. If the bookstore is to survive, it's got to use it's one advantage - atmosphere to its full advantage.

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  23. May I have a cute little graduate on a stick please, thank you. Take care
    x

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  24. Um...I'm seriously hoping that's not normal re the bookstore wanting to charge the author $250!! yeek.

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  25. Lynda, It's the first time I've heard of it and I've done quite a few signings.

    Old Kitty, I wish I had taken a picture. They were standing up in a cup of cinnamon bears, it was really so cute!

    Donna, Hahaha, I just reread Stephen's comment and got it! It went right over my head before.

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  26. That's not a bookstore anywhere near me is it?

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  27. David, No, it's in the Southern U.S.

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  28. Well, it sounds like you've had an interesting week! Paying a bookstore for a signing is ludicrous! But there are many bloggers who do earn a living, from blogging, and a good site to find out how, is problogger.net. You'll want to subscribe to that one. And those little graduation favors sound so cute and yummy.

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  29. I've been hearing about bookstores charging for signings all over the place. Bookstores are dying. I guess they try to get money wherever they can.

    I've read that the days of making a living at blogging are numbered. When blogs first appeared, people started review blogs and opinion blogs that got a lot of traffic. They sold ads and actually made money at it--like a one-person a magazine. But now there are so many people who blog for free (like us) those ad-filled blogs are losing numbers fast. Unless they're mega-blogs like HuffPo or the Daily Beast, of course.

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  30. No kidding? He had to pay that much to sign in that store? What a rip off, seriously! I can't believe it! Having an author there is like a promotion for the bookstore! Yikes!

    YA Paranormal Romance Darkspell coming fall of 2011!
    Can Alex save Winter from the darkness that hunts her?

    ♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
    www.authorelizabethmueller.com
    facebook
    Twitter
    Goodreads

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  31. Wait a friggin minute ! You have 810 followers and you want more ?! I reached 50 this week and thought I was so hot that I called the local newpaper and demanded they do a front page story. They are cosidering it.

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  32. So . . . I want to see a picture of these party favors!

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  33. How funny. What were those people thinking of, showing off their tans instead of praying? I hesitate to tell you this but I have got a commission to write a book (just published) as a direct result of a blog post that I wrote. Sorry and please don't throw a dead bird at me! Actually there's an award waiting on my blog for you so you can't be angry with me now!

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  34. I've not come across anything nearly as weird as you have, but I have come across a bird flying into my window before. I think living in Los Angeles, the "weird" is actually normal. And therefore, everything seems completely a-okay, including the fake tans!
    Ann

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  35. That church wouldn't happen to be located in the town of Stepford would it?

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  36. 1 million+ followers? All I can say to that is yikes! lol

    I can't believe the author got told he had to pay for his signing...

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  37. That is crazy stuff. Pay for a book signing? And I want to get paid to blog.

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