Today, I met Hill Harper (and two local authors)

I was invited all week to attend the Literature and Arts Fesitival, so as a new author writing my first book, I decided to go. I am so glad that I did.

The featured author was Hill Harper, of CSI: NY, and the line for his book signing was long. Before I made it over to Mr. Harper's table, I met some of the local writers. I took note of the tables and how the authors explained their books. There were two authors that I connected with right away. The first author was Michelle Adams. I thumbed through her book, "Boone Hall Plantation: Images of America" and was genuinely interested. I asked her about her book and took note of the way that she described her book. It was interesting, not only in the way that she described the book, but I felt that this non-fiction book could give me some great background to the story that I was writing. I purchased her book and she signed it for me: "To Delores, good luck with your book. - Michelle Adams." Thanks Michelle!

I also met Steve Brown, an author of several fiction books based in Charleston. Like Michelle, Steve and I conversated very easily. He described a couple of his books and I knew I was talking to a professional. I spent most of my time at his table. One of his featured books was "The Belles of Charleston." I was fascinated that he wrote about young women. Interesting perspective. I told him that I was a new author writing my first book and he gave me some tips that I'll never forget. He told me to keep writing forward and not spend too much time editing instead of writing. I told him that I was spending a lot of time in my back story and he referred me to Steven King's book, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft." A lot of people assume that it is just a biography but there is a lot of information on how to get your book published. Lots of great information. I'll be checking out Steven King's book as well as his own books. Thanks Steve!

I managed to get in line and meet Hill Harper before police cut off the book signing. Hill had a photo shoot at 2:00 and I just made it through the line thanks to the goodwill of a stranger. Hill shook my hand and I stated that I am a new author writing my first book and he shook my hand again. As he is signing my copy of his new book, The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships, I asked him if he had any advice for me and two of the things that I'll mention here is that he said to keep writing to the end and don't stop to rewrite. He said that it was nice to meet me and I relayed that it was nice to meet him as well. I only stood at his table for about two minutes, but it was a very valuable two minutes of my life. Heartfelt thanks to Hill!

Thanks to my friends: Rick and Brian, who informed me about the event and kept following up until I decided to go. Thanks to Zina Sinker, who accompanied me to the event and lunch afterward. Thanks to authors: Michelle Adams, Steve Brown, and Hill Harper.

Thanks to everyone who put on this event. Dent Middle School Organizers; Promoters; local radio stations. It was great exposure for local authors and very motivating for new authors, and and as that police officer said to me casually: "One day we'll be coming to YOUR book signing," I considered it a blessing to my ears. From his mouth to God's ears!

I'm soooooooo excited, but I made a goofy mistake.

Hello ladies and gentlemen: I have been speaking about Blastoff.com and all the great features for a couple of weeks now. I am still learning. I still make mistakes along the way. My goal is to change my buying habits using Blastoff, getting great discounts and cash back. It has been working great. I have used it at Buy.com to get my Garmin GPS; I used it three times at GoDaddy.com to get my domain names and web page, and I just used it to reserve my rental car at Avis.

Last night, I had to get my PC protected because my trial period was almost up. I was getting those threatening messages flashing across my screen to extend the service NOW. Well, since I waited until the last minute, when I went to Blastoff, they were doing some maintenance and the PC protection service I was going to use was temporarily down. I felt too nervous to wait any long (especially since I waited until the last minute) so I purchased the plan that came with my laptop for a total cost of $79.00 a year.

Well, here I am 24 hours later and I go on the Blastoff website. I could have had the top program with a well-known competitor for a discounted price of $39.00. The regular retail price was $79.00. That the same price that I bought my plan for. Dang it! I could have gotten total protection for less than half price!
What was I thinking?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although I am excited about my Garmin, my services at GoDaddy (with 24/7 free customer service) and my rental car, I still have a lot to learn. Don't let it happen to you. For those of you interested in the fun and benefits of Blastoff, check it out at the site below. type in http, then add a colon,add 2 forward slashes...and then type in blastoffwithdelores dot com. Easy. Its my website that I got at no cost and you can get one two starting this Monday.

You can browse all you like, but you cannot join until Monday, October 12th starting at 1:00 am EST. Oh did I tell you? The Blastoff webpage is free. You just buy things at the online mall like you would at any regular mall.

If you want me to add you to my Email list, just send me a message: deloresmccarter@live.com