Penny Pearson's Blog, page 6

Sellersburg Celebrates... a success!

We survived our three-day outdoor festival and all had great sales last weekend! This was more than expected because we'd never done an event that wasn't marketed for books. This was a community festival. The clear winners: coloring books. My fellow writer, Jen, did awesome with all her books, but the coloring books took the top prize.

My Amazing Horses coloring book did really well. Especially since it was so last minute due to the fact that I knew my Greek time travel wouldn't do that well. It's such a niche genre, it is hard to market in the toughest book selling events. Then you add in an outdoor festival with thousands of people... well, I didn't know how it would turn out.

I ended up selling more novels at this event over any other event. I was so pleased with the outcome, I've decided to try my hand at the ClarkFest in Clarksville, Indiana on Saturday, October 20th.

Page 69 Contest winner!

I entered a writing challenge I found on Twitter hosted by Stevie McCoy (heavensfiction.blogspot.com). It was the Page 69 Challenge. I was charged with finding the best paragraph or two from page 69 of a manuscript and submit it to compete with others and their page 69s.








Here was my post:

Penny Pearson July 3, 2018 at 9:29 AMHeat licked at Dale Hicks’s skin, excruciating and throbbing. Pain obscured his thoughts down a never-ending tunnel that twisted and turned, getting narrower and narrower. It burned in the most painful way he’d ever experienced. Opening his eyes, he stared around in terror. What happened? His surroundings sparked no sense of the familiar. He thought back to his last memory, yet it seemed so unattainable. He could almost reach out and touch it, but every time he mentally grabbed at it, the memories floated away, leaving a vast emptiness. The rough ground tore into his back, and he propped himself up against a stone wall behind him.

Red, flickering light illuminated the room. Fear shot down Dale’s spine. Something bad had happened.

A large figure came forward. Shadows rippled across the massive frame. Red eyes, sparking fire, focused on Dale. Large scales and protrusions dripped with liquid ooze. “You have arrived sooner than expected,” the creature rasped.

From page 69 of WIP -untitled (I don't come up with title until first draft is complete - but I am SO close!)
Twitter:
@Author_AngieMcP

I like these paragraphs because they show something spooky that's coming my characters' way. ****I was announced as the winner earlier this week, and I was tickled pink! I've never won any sort of writing contest, big or small. Stevie was nice enough to include a pic of my latest novel in her announcement of the contest winner. You can check out the final page for the Page 69 Contest here!

A Coloring Book of Horses?

Cover design - A. McPherson
Well, apparently, I just don't have enough to do. So I decided last week to try my hand at a coloring book. I began to think about what I have to offer at my book events and realized one paranormal adventure needed a friend! So because of my love of horses, it was an easy decision to do a coloring book of different horses. I actually lucked out because when I was younger I drew horses... a lot. So thanks to my drive to draw nearly every Arabian I saw, I had a lot to work with.

I scanned my drawings and then outlined them to create the basic horse. My daughter didn't like it when I added a few details within the horse, so a few of them were left alone, other than their shapes. Another feature my daughter added was a tiny speck at the top of the barn in one of the backgrounds. This little speck is a chicken looking down over the land (my daughter's exact words).

 My husband handled the computer editing after I scanned more than thirty designs. The book was narrowed down to twenty-five drawings. Downloading to CreateSpace was easy, and it only took us a night to get everything entered. I chose to have the page behind the drawing blank to prevent any bleed throughs while coloring. Also, when I gave my daughter extra sheets to take to daycare to color, she came home with the horse colored, cut out, and glued to a popsicle stick. They all had a mini horse show with their stick horses.

The book is titled Amazing Horses and I decided to submit it under the name Angie McPherson. This book is different than the other coloring books, so I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. My book concentrates more on the horses themselves, leaving the background very basic.

For pricing, I chose to be cheaper than most of the books due to affordability for parents of children (and also because I'm really unsure if it's a decent coloring book). I ordered 50 books to be delivered and they will go to Sellersburg Celebrates and the Kentuckiana Book Blitz toward the end of August, as well as two model horse shows. Hopefully model horse people love to color more than their model horses!

I also have an idea for a 2nd coloring book, but we'll see how this one goes! Stay tuned!

Stay paranormally weird and write on!
Penny

Off to Nationals... for model horses!!

I am headed to the North American Nationals with my model horses in Lexington, Kentucky. It is a 3-day show, but I am only showing 2 days. I am bringing 10 CM (custom models), one OF (original finish) Copperfox and one china horse. All but one of the CM horses were customized by others, and the one I did was my NaMoPaiMo horse from February. I have no expectations of doing well since I’m such a beginner show horse collector. With my small budget, I really can’t compete with the horses that cost $1,000 and a lot more.
 
But these horses earned their spot, so gosh darn it! We’re going to a show! At least I don’t have to feed and clean stalls at this show. My biggest worry is the heat. The original plan was to not bring the entire string in each day to Rupp Arena, but the heat is in the mid-90’s and the heat index takes it even higher. The poor things would probably cook down to a blob with a head, or at the least get some crooked legs. I don’t want to take my chance, so I’ll be carting them in for both days.
 
For the classes, I have some horses showing in 2 divisions: breed and workmanship. Breed is pretty simple. You study your horse and find a breed that fits confirmation-wise. Some are easy, while others you can get really creative with, as long as you’ve done your research and your documentation you bring to the show backs up your choice.  As for workmanship, this division solely rests on how the horse is customized. How is the shading, white spaces, hooves, eyes? Do the dapples look real? Everything is subject to the judge’s opinion – just like at an actual horse show. When I was judging, it came down to what horse would I like in my own barn? My herd going to NAN 2018!
 
The same goes here at model horse shows. The devil is in the details, and some of these horses are incredible looking. Who am I kidding? All of these horses are incredible looking. 
 
Another division that I haven’t even ventured into is Performance. It’s not that I couldn’t do it. My real world experience with various breeds and disciplines would be ideal, but frankly I can’t afford to buy a custom saddle, saddle pad, girth, and bridle. I don’t imagine this division is ever something I will take part in. My husband has put up with my horse buying up to this point, but I’m pretty sure there will be a time where he starts to question my sanity. That would be when I start investing (and I do mean INVESTING) in tack.
 
So, my small show string will travel tonight to Lexington, get a good night’s rest, and begin our trek into model horse history!

Uncertainty on book stock needed = stress!

I have a book event coming up toward the end of August called Sellersburg Celebrates. This is an annual festival held in Sellersburg, Indiana Aug 23 - 25th, 2018. They have bands, a parade, tons of booths, rides and games, and food. I have talked with the writers group I am in, and several of us thought this would be a cool event to go to.













I have never been to the festival at all, and this will be the first time I go to an event that we are solely responsible for set up - of everything! We need a tent, extension cords, fire extinguisher, tables, table covering, fans (because it is usually hotter than Hades in August!), sign advertising our writers group (which we don't have and haven't really talked about), and probably more that I haven't thought about.

I think I have the logistics of what's needed under control. At our next 2 writers group meetings we will work out the schedule of who's going to be on hand due to the fact that our booth must be manned at all times when the festival is open. Luckily the times Thursday and Friday are early afternoon. We will take an inventory of who is going to be working the festival and what books they will be bringing. We have a wide range of genres covered and should offer an excellent selection for anyone in the market for a new book.

My dilemma comes in with the number of books I should have on hand. The most books I've ever sold at an event was 4. But I've NEVER gone to an event where they expect 5,000 - 10,000 people visit! I don't want to buy too many books in which I'm stuck with a bunch of inventory for years. Is twenty to buy too much, not enough? I do have 2 more selling events lined up within a month after Sellersburg Celebrates, so I would have more opportunity to sell more.

I am thinking I need to have between 20 to 30 books on hand. It is a lot of up-front cost, but I don't like the idea of running out of inventory during such a well-attended event. On the other hand, there are not a lot of book sellers at this type of event. It's a gamble if anyone is going to want to buy books, and even more of a gamble if those book readers happen to be into the genre I write.

So, I'm going to put a hurt on the pocketbook for some more books, but it won't be earth-shattering if I don't sell a lot. I was hoping to have the 2nd book in the series out before the festival, but it seems it's slow going with my publisher. We'll aim for later for the newest book.

Okay, I'll keep you posted on how this event goes!

Happy writing and stay Paranormally Weird!
Penny

"Fireworks" review - No fireworks here.

I had such high hopes for "Fireworks." I ADORED "Your Name." It was such a fantastical, stressful, almost-there, but not quite-ism. And I was engaged the entire time with the 2016 anime. I cannot say the same with today's movie. If it weren't for Moviepass, I would be severely depressed at the money I paid.


NazunaCourtesy of marcusgohmarcusgoh.com


 
Fireworks is a very pretty movie, and it had moments that made me hopeful. But after the first "If this would happen," I wasn't impressed. I get that it's a coming of age movie and boys will be boys, but all the female characters were one sided, whereas they filled out the male characters more fully. The characters Nazuna (quiet girl), Norimichi (quiet boy) and Yusuke (not-so quiet boy) don't make sense to me at times. Nazuna was quiet until she would burst out in quick one liners that made her seem totally off her rocker or super ditzy. Then she would go back to quiet girl that wouldn't look at anyone. I won't even get into the part where she dreams/ hallucinates being a singing princess flying around. All the while, Norimichi just stands by with wide-eyed... I don't even know what. I'm not sure if he was really seeing this or not!

Honestly, at the end I'd given up caring if Norimichi could fix things. And I've never been so glad when the credits rolled.

My rating: D (and I usually am the one that loves even the most mundane of movies)

Anyways, here's to hoping Ant-Man and the Wasp is better!






Page 69 Challenge from Heaven's Fiction Reviews

I joined the Page 69 Challenge set forth by Heaven's Fiction Reveiws.  You can visit Stevie McCoy's blog to join in on the fun: http://heavensfiction.blogspot.com/

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Here's my contribution:
Penny PearsonJuly 3, 2018 at 9:29 AMHeat licked at Dale Hicks’s skin, excruciating and throbbing. Pain obscured his thoughts down a never-ending tunnel that twisted and turned, getting narrower and narrower. It burned in the most painful way he’d ever experienced. Opening his eyes, he stared around in terror. What happened? His surroundings sparked no sense of the familiar. He thought back to his last memory, yet it seemed so unattainable. He could almost reach out and touch it, but every time he mentally grabbed at it, the memories floated away, leaving a vast emptiness. The rough ground tore into his back, and he propped himself up against a stone wall behind him.

Red, flickering light illuminated the room. Fear shot down Dale’s spine. Something bad had happened.

A large figure came forward. Shadows rippled across the massive frame. Red eyes, sparking fire, focused on Dale. Large scales and protrusions dripped with liquid ooze. “You have arrived sooner than expected,” the creature rasped.

From page 69 of WIP -untitled (I don't come up with title until first draft is complete - but I am SO close!)
Twitter:
@Author_AngieMcP

I like these paragraphs because they show something spooky that's coming my characters' way.ReplyDeleteReplies Stevie McCoyJuly 3, 2018 at 9:54 AMOMG! What happens next?! Who arrived? Great page 69!

Entering the final stretch!

So, it seems as if I have been working on this manuscript for forever! I don't remember, but it's possible I feel this way with every story I write. This will be my 6th finished, even though I only have one book available for purchase at the moment.

I am just shy of 60,000 words and entering the final big scene on my newest . Once I'm done, I'll go back and flesh out any scenes I didn't go into enough detail. This is a sequel to another story I did, but know I am thinking I should make this book the first in the series and move the first book back to the sequel release. That would set any future books to fall right in line for their releases.

After I complete my story, I will try to figure out a title. I don't name any of my stories until they are done. They don't have to be in final draft form, but mentally I feel better when the rough draft is finished. My conundrum is that I'm not quite happy with my first book's title, A Bequest of Blood. It never really sat right with me (even though my husband helped me come up with it). The title does fit, it just doesn't roll off my tongue easily.

So when I complete this book, I will try to find a new title for my completed (book 2) and a name for my work in progress (book 1). It is a series on the Wizards of the Vatican, so I have a lot of possibilities.

Stay tuned! Probably more coming up on future title ideas!
Happy 4th of July!
Penny

Renaissance Fair Fun!

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I love going to ren faires! Every summer I look forward to seeing all the outfits parading around. Some dress as medieval ladies, belly dancers, super heroes or just as themselves. This year I came out with a completely new outfit including a new stomacher and hoop skirt. My husband just smiled and said, "Sure, dear," when I asked if he thought I should buy the new outfit. I couldn't pass up a cream and gold striped circle skirt.

My 6 year old was super excited to cheer on France (red team) during the jousting, and even though our knight lost, everyone had loads of fun.


We also got to see the "Untrained Dog Show" and Fool Hearty, Ima Nut and Marquis - a married couple and their "un" trained dogs.

Fool Hearty
Courtesy of Facebook

Turkey legs and funnel cakes were our food of choice. A new Viking show was added that mixed comedy and staged fighting. This is a new addition, but hopefully one that will continue!  

For anyone in the Kentucky area, a visit to the local ren faire is worth it!
http://www.kyrenfaire.com/

Happy summer and write on!
Penny
 

Book signing / Meet the Author event!

Tomorrow I will have my first self-instigated book signing and selling event. I've done all the advertising that I can without seeming creepy or desperate. The game and coffee shop, Pearl Street G & C House, has never had an author event.

So it's a first for everyone!

I have pulled together all my materials and even some extras. A great idea was presented to me with selling my older, self-published books, as "pre-releases."

This might be a great opportunity to:
1. Sell my old stock that I thought to be unsellable
2. Offer to new readers a chance at reading a book BEFORE final touches are made (editing, cover design, story lines, etc.)
3. Offer new readers a big discount due to the status of the book
4. Build my email list in order to let people know when my next book is available

All that is left is hope that the rain system on the forecast treats us well and we'll be on our way!

I'll keep you updated!
Penny