We writers are an unusual, if not slightly strange bunch. We live mostly in other worlds with fictional people who seem so real to us we might be dangerous at times. We are the only people who can hear voices and not be considered crazy. Though, occasionally people look at me as if I were. Crazy, that is.
It was October, 1994 when my first of six western historical romances was released by Topaz. That Christmas I almost forgot to shop I was so excited. And you've got to know that our family is very big on Christmas. We pile gifts up around the tree until you can hardly get into the room. It takes hours with breaks for coffee, chocolate and milk and cookies to finish the opening task. We go around the room, one by one opening one present at a time and oohing and aahing over it before moving on to the next. Even the children realize the need to take part in this ritual, rather than ripping into their gifts with great abandon.
So you can see that my nearly forgetting to buy gifts was a really big deal. I felt terrible as I rushed around trying to find the just-so-right gifts for each family member. We are a small family, so each makes sure we buy something the other wants. There's no buying ten pairs of gloves or fourteen scarves to pass around. No. Grandpa has to have those furry house slippers and a new wallet and belt, wool socks, his very favorite tools that he's lost or worn out are replaced with glee. A longed for book, a music CD of his favorite tunes. And so it goes around the room.
Yet, there I was left with little time to shop--a chore I hate any other time of the year--and very special gifts I wanted to buy for each and everyone.
I remember when my two children were small, I'd go to the nearby Woolworth store in late September and put special toys on layaway. We had very little money, so it wasn't like it is today, with gifts galore. One really special item from Santa, a couple of smaller gifts from Mom and Dad. Over the years things changed, and so I was met on this late October in 1994, with a long list. Wal Mart was not then what it is today, but there were other stores in town as well. A K Mart, Sears and Pennys. Woolworth had long disappeared. Online shopping was a thing of the future, though catalogs were a favorite of mine.
I don't recall the gifts I bought that year, and probably no one else does either, which might say something about worrying so much about getting just the right thing. But I did make it without spending Christmas Eve trolling through leftovers. I vowed, that no matter what was going on in my writing life, that wouldn't happen again. And so, each year, deadline or no, book release or no, blog to write or no, I finish my shopping around Thanksgiving. Thanks nowadays to Amazon and other online stores.
This year I've uploaded to Kindle not only that long ago book that was first published in 1994, but three others, all available for gift giving this Christmas by simply hitting a couple of buttons. Family members with a Kindle will be delighted and so will you. Books that were originally $6.99 in 1994-1998 are now $2.99. That's quite a bargain when you consider inflation rates today.
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