A Double-Nickel Birthday Gift!

This week I will be celebrating my double-nickel birthday. Yes, I will be a grand 55 years old! I sure don't feel or act that old, and I'm very grateful for my good health that allows me to do such things as hiking, biking, sliding down water slides, and dancing the chicken dance--all of which I enjoyed lately (see my blog). As they say, you're only as old as you feel. And, you only have one life to live, so you might as well live it up!



I definitely have an attitude of gratitude because I know I'm very lucky to not only have my health, but also a loving family and to live in an affluent country that allows its citizens freedoms. Traveling internationally, especially to repressed countries like Myanmar (Burma) has hammered home how lucky I am to be a US citizen. Being grateful for our blessings is the key to happiness, I think. Of course, presents help, too. :)





And our publisher, Midnight Ink, gave me a doozy of a gift this week--acquisition editor Terri Bischoff said she'd be sending a contract for the third book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner! The first book, Deadly Currents, was released to great reviews in May of this year, the second, Wicked Eddies, is scheduled for May of 2012. This third one, tentatively titled Cataract Canyon, hopefully will be scheduled for a year later in May of 2013.



To celebrate my birthday and my good fortune, I am going to give away a copy of Deadly Currents. To enter the contest, leave a comment here on how you helped spread the word about the first book in the RM Outdoor Adventure series. Some ideas include:



- recommending it to a mystery-reading friend or friends,

- posting a review somewhere,

- adding the book to your to-read list on Goodreads, LibraryThing or Shelfari,

- posting a link to the Amazon or B&N page or this blog post on Twitter, Facebook or Google+,

- filling out a patron request form at your local library asking them to buy a copy,

- scheduling a discussion of the book with your book club (you can ask me to participate via speakerphone, chat room, Skype or whatever, too!),

- putting a sign on your car to "Read Deadly Currents!",

- tattooing the cover art on your forehead.



Wait, I got carried away on those last two! You get the idea, though. Be creative, have fun, and think of your own way to help keep that "word of mouth" going for Deadly Currents. Spread the word, leave a comment here, and you're entered. I think there's no more fun way to celebrate a birthday or good fortune than by giving something away yourself.



Now, here's a question. How do you celebrate "milestone" birthdays? How else do you think I should celebrate mine (besides the book giveaway contest)? Any party-down suggestions for me?

NUD or NOT?

Darrell James

A few weeks ago, Jimmy Kimmel—on Jimmy Kimmel Live, national television— proclaimed November 17th as NATIONAL UN-FRIEND DAY (NUD) His cause: "to put and end to the foolishness of social networking.” The subsequent campaign that he mounted would have rivaled that of any modern day political incumbent, rallying the support of celebrities and garnering widespread support across university campuses.

Together, on one glorious day, with surgical precision, the aim was to set about, cutting loose all the people, who in a weak and delirious moment of un-sobriety, we so casually and carelessly Friended on Facebook. Stomp out the OMGs, the LOLs. Rid ourselves of Farmville and Mafia War requests (which, well, kind of makes his point.)…

Still, the man was serious (or sort of), because that’s the kind of guy he is. He even went so far as to have War create a music video to underscore his message.

Now, I know that Jimmy has a lot of things to juggle, what with the joke telling and all. So I’m sure that it was a simple oversight on his behalf that he selected November 17th, my BIRTHDAY, as his day of social reckoning. (BTW, Jimmy: I’m still waiting for the card.)

So, as the NUD campaign gained momentum, I began to wonder…

How will it effect my Big Day? Will I wake up on my birthday, expecting well wishes from friends and family, only to find that I am suddenly alone in the cyber universe, adrift, without having a clue who baked brownies today or whose cat is now wearing shoes made of Dixie Cups. OMG, LOL!

As the days ticked down toward, and past, the Ides of November, I began to sweat.

I did I tell you!

For Jimmy had masterfully manipulated the power of the media. And support for NUD had reached viral frenzy…

When the big day finally arrived, I awoke early, grabbed a cup of coffee, and fired up Facebook.

To my joy and wondrous surprise (something like Christmas) not only had I NOT lost any of my Facebook Friends, but there were two welcome requests for Friendship waiting. And, the birthday wishes had already begun rolling in.

Now, it’s my custom (call it my creed) that if someone writes me a personal message on Facebook, I always respond with a personal reply. Well, the birthday wishes kept coming, and so did a few more requests for Friendship (that I happily accepted). Family, writer friends, reader friends, and those who I have found or have found me through the marvel of modern technology. They poured in from across the country, from Canada, from Italy, from Germany, and as far away as Queensland Australia. And before the day was over I had responded to more than 140 birthday greetings. All Friends.

I tuned in to Jimmy Live that evening (which BTW: isn’t really ‘live” at all….just sayin’). He was still claiming victory, even showing a tote board to display the grand tally of Unfriended.

Well, perhaps, somewhere in the distant cyberspace, there are those souls who have been banished to “Un-Friend Land”. My heart goes out to them. To you, huddled masses, misfortunates of cyber-warfare, I say: “Come over to my Facebook page. There’s always room for one more, or two more, or however many more of you there might be…Come! (At least until I hit my 5000 friend limit.)

As for you Mr. Jimmy (the Kimmel, who doesn’t even have a Facebook page) when your heart finally thaws and you find yourself alone on your cyber iceberg, with only a few discarded Farmville and Mafia War friends to drink with, take out a page. Send me a request. I’ll welcome you in. Because… well… because that’s the kind of guy I am… I got Friends!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, Facebook Buddies!

A Birthday Gift --- for YOU!

Sometime in the next few weeks, I will be celebrating my birthday. I won't tell you exactly when, because for identity theft protection purposes, I protect the date almost as well as I protect my social security number and full name. I will divulge that I am a Leo. And, don't ask how old I'm going to be either! ;-)

To celebrate, instead of collecting gifts, I am giving one away--in a contest that I'm running both here and on my personal blog. I will give away a personalized autographed copy of one of my books (your choice), plus a selection of books written by other mystery authors, to one lucky winner.

How do you enter the contest, you ask? I would like to encourage people to sign up as followers both here and on my personal blog. So, that's all you have to do to be entered! Sometime in the next 4 weeks, sign up as a Google/blogger follower on both blogs. If you're already a follower of both blogs, you're already entered into the contest.

At the end of 4 weeks, when I'm due to post here again, I will use a random number generator to pick the blogger profile of someone who follows both blogs. Then I'll contact you through the email associated with that profile to find out your mailing address and send you the books. That's all it takes. So, if you ever read Inkspot or my personal blog, now you've got a good reason to sign up as a regular follower!

To encourage comments, I'd like to know what your thoughts are on author contests. Do you enter them often? What kinds of prizes do you prefer? Do you prefer ongoing contests (such as the one that I keep running all the time for subscribers to my email newsletter) or contests that are one-time shots like this one? Do you prefer that the prize be divulged ahead of time, or would you rather have it be a mystery?