Write Now and Then

For who knows how many weeks in a row, we really have nothing to talk about.  Nothing is happening at the store, and nothing looks like it will be happening in the upcoming future.  This is the primary reason why we are going to cut back on our posts.  Why write a post if there isn't anything to write about.  There is another reason why we will be cutting back, and it is personal.  Starting next month, I will be taking online graduate school courses to get my Master's in English.  I am not sure how much time it will take for me to finish the work for each class, but it will probable cut into the time I allow for writing this blog.  Since I also write two other, more personal, blogs, I felt that something had to give, and this blog was the one that had to go.  We will still update the rest of the site on a somewhat regular basis, depending on what needs to be done.  (I totally forgot to change things for Independence Day.). The Upcoming Books page will be updated weekly, while I hope to continue posting pics of the monthly Upcoming Releases board.  We will still post on our social media pages, although we have been ignoring Google + a little too much.  Hopefully, we will even have a short post here.  As of right now, I am planning to post on the second and fourth week of every month.  If I can convince someone, we might even be able to have a fill-in for the other weeks.  Anyway, I am sorry I have to cut back, but it is for a good cause.  See you in two weeks,  or so.

Delays Were to Be Expected

Let's go right down to business.  We sort of messed up last week.  We wanted to post a video in last week's post, but it was too big for the site.  We had to post it on our Facebook page instead.  We wanted to post it on other social media outlets, but we haven't yet.  Why?  It took over thirty minutes just to upload the video the first time.  We really weren't expecting it to take so long for such a short clip.  Seriously, it is just over a minute-and-a-half long.  We just couldn't find the time to post it elsewhere.  Anyway, check for it there.  We also have finally post some extra pics from last year's Adrianna Trigainni signing that we weren't able to until we updated some of our technology.  It was really quite simple, with the right computer.  While preparing for this week's post, we noticed that last week was our one hundredth post on the Blogger platform.  When taking into account the original blog, that is a lot of posts.  It would have been special if we had been able to include the clip, but since one week we did a re-post, this week would be the "official" one hundredth post.  Unfortunately, we don't have anything to add to that.  We are planning an announcement for next week, so be on the lookout.  Until then, keep reading.

Summertime Gladness

As you may remember, we change the logo on our welcome board every so often.  Usually, it is based on a seasonal theme.  For instance, for the last few weeks, the logo was in blue and red for Independence Day.  The "o's" were changed into stars, and red stripes came out of the right end.  This time around, we had a hard time coming up with an idea.  Ultimately, we decided that watermelons would suit the season nicely.  But how should we do it?  We first thought about making every letter some form of the fruit, but decided against it.  While most of the letters could be represented as whole melons or slice, the "t" would be all but impossible.  In the end, we decided to just go with the "o's" again.  The first two "o's" would be whole melons, but the last "o" would be a round slice, as if just cut open.  We used two shades of green to represent the striped outside rind.  For the inside, we used a green outline with a lighter green ring just inside.  A red flesh interior with black seeds completed the effect.  We were going to put a video of the process up here, but there was a problem with the upload, so just check the website or social media for the full story. See you next week.

And One to Go

Last summer, we held a big event-- a book signing involving Adrianna Trigianni.  It was her second appearance at the store.  While this time wasn't quite as big as the previous one, it was still a very special thing.  One thing that we did was a raffle for posters based on the cover of her book.  We randomly drew five names to receive the posters.  Three were picked up within a few weeks.  The fourth one got picked up a few months later, mostly due to some miscommunications with the winner.  The fifth one still hasn't been picked up yet.  We tried many times to call and email the winner, but as of yet she still hasn't come in.  Since it has almost been a year, we are not sure what else we can do.  The post has been signed and personalized by Adrianna, so we really shouldn't even try to give it to someone else.  The poster has been rolled up now for a year, and it might be difficult for it to ever be laid flat again.  Here's hoping that someone out there will help us find this winner.  We won't be revealing her identity at this time, but if anyone out there remembers who came to the signing, let them know that there is one last winner.  We might post this person's name at a later date.  See you next week.