You write a book and then what?  You stay up all night and sleep through the afternoon; you don’t get out of your jammies for days on end.  You let voice mail answer your phone and you hide under the covers when exhaustion seeps in.  You write a book and then what? 

You field questions from the curious, how long did it take?  When did you get the idea?  Is it autobiographical?  How difficult was it to get an agent, a publisher?  You write a book and then what?

You have to get out of your jammies?  You have to join a networking group.  You have to be social.  You have to find a way to get the book out of your head.  You have to be a shameless marketer.

The book is written, the publisher and the agent are found and the release date is past.  Your face is in the newspaper; people come up to you in the grocery store and offer congratulations.  You wrote a book and then what?

You get reviewed and the reviews are five stars.  You want more reviews.  You want the New York Times, you want Oprah, and you want Don Imus to invite you on the radio.  You wrote a book, so now what?

Buy the book, that’s what you say, buy it and read it and get back to me.  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell anyone you can about Belly of the Whale.  Tell them this is a book about the pink ribbon disease, about hope, about faith, about life, and about survival.  This is a book that will stay with you long after the last page is read.

Blog what you think, what you feel, what you see and what you write…

Linda Merlino, author of Belly of the Whale

www.lindamerlino.com

www.kunati.com/linda-merlino

Available from amazon.com and at bookstores

I met an angel the other day.  She did not have wings, or a long flowing gown.    Encountering an angel isn’t always apparent in the first few minutes.  There is a brief introduction where his or her identity is hidden from view.  I’ve probably missed dozens of opportunities because I was too busy or distracted to pay attention, to listen, or to be aware.

There are all kinds of angel activity swirling around us, so much in fact that we can often mistake it for coincidence or accident.  But there is no such thing as coincidence, nothing happens outside the master plan; which means we have so much to believe, and even more to chalk up to blind faith.     

The interjecting of angel wisdom has no pattern of whys and when’s.  Sometimes it is just to help find a missing shoe or our keys.  We get flack from non-believers when we talk out-loud about such things, in all honesty I simply say thank you and keep it to my self.

How about the other morning when I was wondering where I could get single dollar bills at four thirty a.m. to tip my baggage handlers at the airport.  I’d thought of everything for my trip except that, and then getting dressed I put my hand in my jeans and in the pocket was a freshly washed and dried bundle of one’s.  Huh, you say…see what I mean I reply.

I am deep into the marketing and selling of my new book, Belly of the Whale.   There is little time for much else except going to work and occasional sleep.  My next manuscript has few pages written, most of the story is still in my head.  I continue to collect data and research and sometimes put words on a page, but mostly I blog for writing and compose new emails and have abandoned my usual morning book-writing-routine.

A random connection to a woman I met in my travels proved to be this writer’s gem, or more correct another angel.  We were discussing the past and present of places we’d been and lived.  She revealed a snippet of her past and I had to stop and sit down.  Here was the key to unlock the door to my next book.  This woman had been to where I was going in my story.  Although fiction, her experience was not, I had to tell her, about the angel thing I mean.

Do you believe in angels?  I asked.  She said, yes.  You are my angel today, I said.  She smiled and said thank you.  No, it is me that needs to say thanks, we need to talk more, I said.  Anytime, she offered.

Do not dismiss happenstance, say a prayer or mouth a thank you to those no-entities that offer guidance and good humor everyday.  Perhaps, like me, your questions will be answered.

Blog what you hear, see, think and feel.

Linda Merlino, author, Belly of the Whale

http://www.lindamerlino.com

http://www.kuati.com/linda-merlino

order on: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640188

This blog is about cookies, pink ribbon cookies.  My grandmother passed on a recipe to me many years ago for Italian biscotti’s.  Making these cookies became a childhood tradition.  The feel of flour on our hands, the roll of dough under our fingers that snaked long as we worked it and using just the right sharp knife to snip off four inch pieces, that then got twisted into a fold over, ribbon-like shape.  This memory stays with me and last week when I was preparing for my book’s launch I thought about grandma’s cookies.   

A book signing event should not just be about books.  What else could I include that might spark conversation and send the message of hope and survival to people walking by or browsing the bookstore?  Potential Belly of the Whale book buyers might be hungry and while waiting for me to sign their recently purchased book(s) they might munch on a cookie or two. With these thoughts in mind I baked several dozen biscotti’s.

As a child after the cookies were made, we mixed milk with confectioner’s sugar, drizzled some over the baked cookies and added colorful sprinkles as decorations.  For my book signing cookies I made pink icing and no sprinkles.  Fight-the-fight is part of the message I like to remind folk about, and for every cookie eaten at my book launch I imagined another battle with breast cancer being won.

Someone at the book signing asked if my grandmother made the cookies.  I said, no not these, she’s been gone for almost thirty years, but I’m sure she is smiling down from wherever she is today.  That much I know is true.

The biscotti’s and the signing were a success.  Looks like I’ll be bringing grandma’s biscotti’s to all my signings.  May the pink ribbon symbol for fighting breast cancer flourish in the form of our family recipe.  May all who eat a cookie be blessed. 

Blog what you think, hear and see…Linda Merlino, www.lindamerlino.com

We may have all awoke scratching our heads. The mysteries of yesterday still sitting top-of-the-mind.
So will we fare any better today? Moon in Scorpio sends a mysterious message. We have to dig deep for answers. Most of us are too busy to take the time so for some the mystery will remain.
Suggestion for those more determined: Remember you can fly. (Excuse me?) Well I mean there is a way up and over, and, like I said, you can FLY. Another suggestion is this: Get what you need to get done by this evening because we are heading for a big fat No Day that will blanket tomorrow. From about 10:30pm tonight until 8pm tomorrow night and then you might just want to crawl under that blanket. No Days are not that depressing, you can use the energy to do the most mundane of tasks and to plan. Don’t expect more from the day than necessary and know that anything said or done is not written in stone.

Scorpio sends a message regarding health. There could be something deep inside, something lurking that you can’t see. Not to scare you but if your inner voice has been telling you the same thing…now is the time to check it out. Stay well. Stay aware.

Have the best day everyday…

Talk later…
www.kunati.com/linda-merlino/