Today I sat down and worked on some outlines for Homer and where I next want to take him. I might not write anything again for a couple of months or I might write something tomorrow. I like to use an outline to first define what I want Homer to do within the context of that chapter. All of the chapters together gives me a time frame to work with. In Dulcimer X'ing the time frame was one year. In my next book I have not yet decided how long the perid of time will be. I let the story evolve and...

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Christmas is coming! Thanksgiving is over and next will be Christmas. We spent part of today putting up christmas decorations. The cold front has moved in which has put a chill in the air. The colder air made it feel more like christmas is coming. This helped to get you in the mood for decorating. It was fun to put up our 'treasures' that we have had boxed up since last year. These are things that we have collected for a number of years. Putting them up allowed us an opportunity to reminisce ...

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Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful time to reflect and be thankful for what we have. This has been a long year for me working on my book. Having reached the end and seeing the finshed book I have had time to reflect and what I have been able to accomplish and to be thankful that everyone has been so positive and supportive. While this has been hard it has been a lot of fun. I want to wish eveyone a Happy Thanksgiving and hope your holiday season provides you peace and fulfillment.
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Today was a rainy day. It started early this morning and was still raining into the evening. Tomorrow the cold front is supposed to move through and drop the temperatures for a few days. Usually when it rains we will get a large amount of rain over a short periiod of time. But today it was more of a soaking rain. This means it rained consistently for a long period of time which allowed the rain to soak into the ground and not run off. This is sort of like the tortuise and the hare. Today's ra...
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Everyday I work a little on the marketing of the book. This process is going to be ongoing. Some days I make better process then others. Sometimes it will be a lot of little steps and sometimes it might be a couple of giant steps. Each day will be unique with no two being the same. I also was woking today on some additional items for sale on my website with Homer on them. This is also part of the marketing strategy. Getting people use to what Homer looks like and getting Homer into the public...
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What a great time I had this past weekend. I would have blogged earlier but the sitemaster was doing work on the provider site so I was not able to blog yesterday. Classes were held all three days. I was able to learn a bunch of different things concerning the dulcimer. From techniques to songs I have hopefully expanded my understanding for my instrument. There were over 300 people in attendance. I made a lot of great contacts and I was able to sell my book to four stores who will be carrying...
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Well is is dulcimer festival time and what do you do a a festival? You take classes! Well I have been taking lots of classes these past two days. Each one has been very informative and I have learned a lot. I have had several different teachers and it great to learn from a variety of instructors. My favorite class has been learning to play Sacred Harp Hymns on the dulcimer. This is one class I will take home and hope to learn and play more. I hope everyone gets to go to a festival and learn n...
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Getting ready to attend a wonderful dulcimer festival in the mountains of north georgia. This is a great event in a beautiful location. I have the best time and get to see so many other dulcimer players. The instrutors are very good and I learn a lot. I am going and not even going to be thinking about my book even though I will be displaying a proof of the book and taking prelaunch orders. But my main focus will be on having a grea time and taking in all of he fun and sounds of a dulcimer event.
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Today is an okay day. After being up from getting the book completed and launching the presale to having some interest in me doing a speaking engagement, I am a little bit more on the meloncholy side. Today I am struggling with more fear and trepidation. Will the book be successful, will people like it, will they recommend it to their friends? So many questions without a lot of answers. I have to learn to slow down a little and not try to do this at full throttle each and every day. I have to...

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Today we were visiting with a good friend of ours who was thrilled that I have written a book and decided to order a book from me. During our converstion she surprised me by asking if I would consider speaking in front of her organization to discuss my book. A speaking engagement would be a great next step in getting my name out there and getting my book out there. When I started the project so long ago I never imagined that I would come this far and have the privlege to talk to people about ...
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Today I was able to attend the dulcimer retreat at Stephen Foster State Park in White Springs, Florida. This is a wonderful venue for a dulcimer festival. Kudos to David Beede for all the work he does to make this festival a success. Stephen Foster State Park is located on the Suwannee river made famous by the song by Stephen Foster. Many different musical events take place at the park. I have been attending this festival for several years. This was the first festival I attended after I took ...
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Today we were out and about and took the proof of the book with us. We were able to show the proof to many different people and everyone was positive in their responses to the cover of the book. All I had to say was that I had written a children's book and I had instant interest. "Tell me about your book. What is the story about? How come you use a dulcimer in your story? Everyone showed a genuine interest. They also said that they had children, grandchildren, or knew someone with a child who...
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Today I got goose bumps! I received a proof of my book. Here in my hands was my book. The book I have worked so long and so hard on. It was an awesome feeling to know I created this. It gave me goose bumps. The reality is starting to sink in. I know how happy I am with what I have accomplished. I hope everyone will love the book as much as I do. I can't wait to start writing the next episode in Homer's life. 
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I had a funny experience today. I guess I am not vey savvy when it comes to todays lingo. I was texting my son and I ended the text with lol. I sent him the text with 'lots of love'. Well he calls me up and says what was I talking about in regards to the text message he received. It seems lol means 'laugh out loud', so he wanted to know what was going on. Well needless to say we had a good laugh when I told home I was sending him 'lots of love' his was and was not laughing at him! I guess I w...
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Everyone I speak to concerning my book has met with enthusiasm. It does not matter if it is a friend or a stranger. I receive encouragement. I am so excited about being able to hold a copy of my book in my hands. The book is supposed to arrive this week for me to review. I will keep you posted on how it looks

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If you are interested in saving some money now is the time. I have a limited offer where I will pay for the shipping if you order and pay now. The offer is only good until December 1st. If you are interested in purchasing Dulcimer X'ing go ahead and email for information.
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My book has been finished. All of the editing is done. All of the changes have been made. I have submitted my book for review which is the last process before publication. If the review is okay then the next step will be offering the book for sale through Amazon.com. This is over five years in the making. I cannot believe that I have now seen this all the way through. This has been a labor of love. I hope eveyone enjoys the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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Today was an interesting day for me. I put myself out there for eveyone to see. I went to a small event today and introduced myself to the radio celebrity. I gave the person a flyer that I had created along with my bookmark and my new business card. The person took my information and told me to let them know when the book is published and they will announce it on the radio. How cool is that!? So the promoting is starting. they say every journey befins with the first step. So here was my giant...
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Today I was working on my book. I was adding, subtracting, changing and modifying. After I was all done I sat down to read the story again. I was amazed at myself. Here I was reading a real book. It has a storyline. It has characters. It has highs and lows. It has a hero and it has a villian. It made me feel so good knowing that this is my project. Whether it is a financial success does not matter. I accomplished everything I set out to do. So for me my book is a total success. I hope everyon...
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Yesterday I received a call from a good friend of mind who also happens to write children's stories. When I found out a year a go that she has written a children's book I was still in the wavering stage of do I want to finish my book or am I going to leave it at the pages I wrote and let them stay in the drawer. Her encouragement took me of the fence so to speak and gave me the impetus to keep on writing. Anyway she was calling to check out my website. she could not believe how far I have com...
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Fall is a great time of year. The weather is not as hot! Remember I live in Florida so it is warm year round. Anyway the weather is a little cooler but that is not the main reason I like the Fall. This time of year we start getting ready for playing at different holiday events. We have one performace scheduled for Mt. Dora the beginning of december and now it looks like we may also be playing at an event the same weekend in Christmas, Florida. It is a wonderful feeling being able to share the...
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