Happy Sunday folks!
It’s been a busy, busy weekend for me proofreading the author copies of my latest book, In the Shadows on Jekyll, Gem of the Golden Isles Series Book Four. It’s due to be released the end of the first week of December so I’m racing a clock.
A lot of people seemed surprised that there were more books in the series. To be honest, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Tally and Mitch. I’m attached to them. For now. So are a lot of my readers, based on the feedback. Also, readers love Isabelle and Etah and seem to have an enormous fear that I’m going to start killing off octogenarians. Rest assured, that’s not my plan at this point. I love Isabelle and Etah, too.
I’m still getting the hang of this self-publishing schedule thing. It’s tricky. I understand why traditional publishers take such a big cut. But now that they make the authors do most of the promotion via social media, I’m not entirely sure they’re earning it. When I get frustrated, I think about the upcoming holidays because I’m excited to see loved ones.
Jekyll Island is all about Christmas right now. Yes, it’s early, but how are they supposed to turn on millions of lights the night after Thanksgiving if they don’t spend a month putting them up? Duh. I think they just leave up the hanging shrimp lights (yes, we have lit crustaceans hanging from our trees for the Shrimp & Grits Festival) and start adding holly and candy canes around them.
And then there is the Merry Artists Holiday Market at the Jekyll Island Arts Association to consider. It matters a lot to me because I’m a member, and they sell my books. We have an unbelievable number of very talented artists in the Golden Isles, and quite a few who live on Jekyll, like me. Painters, weavers, quilters, quillers (yeah, that’s a word), potters, photographers, and so much more. Yes, there are a handful of very impressive authors who live here, too (no I’m not talking about myself lol).
Merry Artists is a really neat Christmas craft and arts shop that features creations from member artists. Bill is in love with these wooden cranes one lady makes – he wants them along the top of the rooms in our house. Um, nope. I mean, they would be very cool over a doorway. Or over the fireplace. But I’m not into wooden birds in every room. Maybe if he’s good, we’ll get him some for Father’s Day and have them mounted someplace before he sees them. Am I being manipulative? Maybe a little. But this is a guy who lined the hallways of our DC home with police cars for years. I have a reason to be concerned.
If you happen to live here and have noticed me posting a lot for the Jekyll Artists, that’s because I volunteered to help with social media and publicity. I think the demonstrations the artists do during the show are awesome and more people in the area should know about them. It’s all FREE! You can check out the gallery, attend demos, chat with artists, etc. for absolutely nothing. If you love something, you buy it, and that money goes to help support the artist and the arts association. Win-win. For the past couple of years, I’ve finished up my Christmas shopping at the early residents’ hours on opening day.
Merry Artist is open 12-4 weekdays and 10-4 weekends through December. It opens to the public at 10 am on Nov. 29th (Black Friday), but residents, members, and friends may shop from 8-10 am before it’s gets crowded. And it does get crowded.
Merry Artists is located in Goodyear Cottage on Millionaires Row in the historic district on Jekyll Island. It’s the former home of the Goodyears, back when Jekyll was where the very wealthy spent their winters at the Jekyll Island Club. So not only do you get to attend a holiday craft show, but it’s also the only time of year that the entire historic home is open to the public. You can wander through the various levels and see where the weavers, painters, writers, and other artists do in the various former bedrooms of the millionaires. It’s very cool. It’s free. And I highly recommend you visit and take your friends with you.
I have to get back to reading my own book – so weird, right? I stopped to post this because the smartest woman I know told me that blogging was going to help sell my books. I know it helped sell my wedding services to brides – I never paid for advertising, and I planned more than 500 weddings in 11 years – but does anybody really care what I have to say when I’m not talking about veils and bouquets and rude wedding guests? I guess we’ll find out.
Until next time, happy reading! Let’s see if I can manage to post daily for a whole week.
Xoxo,
Sandy
p.s. #GoBuckeyes #ProudOSUAlum #BeatXichigan #OhioStateFootball