Joel Frey

Shop talk

I planned on writing the next installment of "Ticket Stubs" tonight. Well, actually, my original intent was to do it last weekend, but Heather and I spent Saturday afternoon watching Meg play golf and Sunday was busy with church and other family activities. After wrapping up work today, I had my evening all planned out: treadmill, dinner, Idol, blog. But Johnny the handy man unexpectedly dropped by to fix the toilet handle and my run lasted approximately one minute and twenty three seconds. As Heather and I were getting dinner ready, our neighbors, Charlie and Lisa, stopped by with a thank you note and homemade poppy seed bread for keeping an eye out on their house a couple of weeks ago. After they left, we watched Idol and then Schuster, our semi-smelly poodle, needed a tubby. Once he was semi-freshened up, I needed to shower because I never got around to doing it this morning. Now, it's almost 10:00 and I'd rather ramble for a few more minutes then devote an hour or two to thoughtful reminiscing. Thanks for hanging with me.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a bona fide member of the book industry. I submitted a copy of Cypress Walls to the distribution company she works for last fall and, after exchanging emails for a couple of months, we finally found time to talk. She was generous with her time and offered me several useful tips, suggestions and resources. More importantly, she was complimentary of my writing and there's a chance we might work together to get Cypress Walls into bookstores. As my good friend Charlie used to say when writing about trends in the forest products industry, I am "cautiously optimistic."

Enjoy the rest of your week! Heather and I are taking Friday off and are having a Bloody Mary at the Double Eagle in Old Mesilla, New Mexico. Cheers!

Kindle

Hello all you American Idol fans. Heather, Megan and I are watching the Louisville auditions and were amused by the rather large man who tried to pull off "Billie Jean." Ouch. If anyone has any notable updates from last night, please leave a comment. We missed it.

Good news! I have listed not one, but two new ways to purchase Cypress Walls. I have spent the past couple of weekends jumping through the various hoops Amazon sets up for small publishers and yesterday I mailed a copy to their warehouse in Lexington, KY. Additionally, my book is available in digital format on the company's highly-touted Kindle at the bargain price of $3.19. Best sellers typically go for $9.99 just in case you were wondering. Oh, and thanks to Sister Renee for posting the first 5-star review!

Amazon makes it really, really easy for unknown authors like me to make their books available to the masses. Their systems are entirely automated and they also offer services that increase the chances of potential readers landing on my page based on their keyword searches. Groovy.

I've also become a member of Google Book Partner Search Program. This, too, is designed to widen the potential reach of Cypress Walls on the Web. Yesterday, I learned of an extra benefit: revenue share on clicks. That $1.11 is sure to come in handy.

Thanks for checking in. Any of ya'll ever hear of Brad Davis? I stumbled across him on YouTube yesterday and he has a song called "Cypress Walls." And it's a pretty good tune! If he wasn't a professional singer and toured with the likes of Marty Stuart, I'd encourage him to go out for Idol. Rock on Brad.

Ticket Stubs 1/1/81

I'm sure there are a few dorks out there like me who have saved the tickets stubs from each of the events they have been lucky or unlucky enough to attend. And while I gave up on collecting stuff that requires storage - baseball cards, Star Wars toys, etc. - the first part of this decade, I still hang onto stubs. For me, they are the perfect memento - tiny, factual, some more colorful than others.

Why do I bring up stubs here and now? As I've sifted through my own stubs this week, I thought it might be fun to share some of my memories from the array of sporting events, concerts and other random happenings I've witnessed. And by doing so, I'll be working on that "write more" resolution Heather, Meg and I talked about at the airport a couple weeks ago. As always, if the writing sucks, please let me know.

*******

Who: Georgia vs. Notre Dame

What: 47th Annual Sugar Bowl Classic

When: January 1, 1981

Where: Superdome, New Orleans

Seating: Section 110, Row 32, Seat 17

Ticket Price: $17

If memory serves, this was the first big-time college football game I ever attended, five months shy of my seventh birthday. I was with my dad, one of his buddies from work (I think) and a father and son from our church who sat near us, but not next to us. We rooted for Georgia mainly because of their affiliation with the Southeastern Conference and their stud running back Herschel Walker who would win the Heismen Trophy the following season.

The details of this game in my mind are long forgotten, except the final score: Georgia 17, Notre Dame 10. There is one point unrelated to the field of play, however, that has stuck with me. From almost the moment we stepped into the Dome, I begged, pleaded, and cajoled Dad to buy me one of those over-sized, foam fingers sporting the Bulldog logo. I was pre-occupied with owning one from the opening kick-off until the final whistle sounded. As we made our way to the exits, he finally plopped down $5 at one of the vendor stands and I was a happy little camper.

I'm not sure what happened to that foam finger. It probably had a place in my closet for years before being tossed out. As for the Sugar Bowl, that's the only one I've ever gone to. The Superdome, however, has been a mainstay in my life ever since.

Grooves

Happy 2009 everyone! I hope you all are getting back into your grooves as the wanderlust of the holidays slowly, but surely wears off. Heather and I baby-sat last night and our munchkin house guests helped get the ornaments and lights off our tree. As I type this in our living room, it looks kind of sad all dressed down, just waiting to be put back in the box and stored away until the next day after Thanksgiving.

A week ago today on our way home to El Paso, Heather, Meg and I discussed resolutions at the TGI Friday's in Terminal A at DFW Airport. Not only did we write our own, we also gave each other a few to consider. Family bonding at it's finest. "Sell more books," is naturally one of mine. Now that JAF Publishing Inc. has a bank account along with a couple of deposits (thanks Barnes and Noble!), I feel more motivated to strike up conversations with other sellers of books. I'm going to focus more on line than off, mainly because of the eyeball factor. Still, I'm going to query some college bookstores in West Texas and see if there is any potential shelf life for Cypress Walls in that setting.

One of my others is to write more. Hopefully, you'll see that one come to fruition here, but I also want to journal more than I did in 2008. I doubt I'll begin working on another book this year, but perhaps the seeds for another will be planted.

I wish you luck with any resolutions you've made for the New Year. Before signing off, I wanted to share five fun moments from our Christmas vacation.

• Eating a Soul Burger and drinking a couple of beers with Zack at Ernestine and Hazel's - the site of the Memphis launch party - and then taking in a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game, which they lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 91-80.

• Celebrating Grandma Louise's 87th birthday in Brodhead, WI.

• Eating a tasty Limburger sandwich at Baumgartner's in Monroe, WI.

• Mom and Dad helping me introduce Heather and Meg to my favorite restaurant, Cozy Corner in Memphis.

• Heather and I celebrating our first anniversary in Memphis! Thanks to all of the wonderful staff at the Madison Hotel!

As always, thanks for checking in. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!