I live north of Atlanta, Georgia, and in case you don't know, we don't handle snow events very well. If there is even a hint that it might snow, schools close, and everything shuts down after the stores have been cleaned out of milk and bread. (I can't explain that one, maybe snow gives southerners a craving for French toast?)
I even got caught a few years ago when the freeway shut down due to snow and ice. It was not fun- what was supposed to be a 45-minute drive home turned into an overnight stay in hotel lobby, because six hours later I wasn't even three quarters of the way home! I wrote a blog post about the experience, which seems funny now. It sure as hell wasn't at the time.
Surprise-THE FORECASTER FAILED!
Anyway, the "dusting of snow" we were supposed to get turned into a blizzard, dumping up to 8 inches of snow in some places! What is even stranger, is if we get snow at all, it’s in January or February, not December. This unexpected dumping of white stuff meant I had to cancel my book signing with fellow author Linda Joyce at our favorite wine tasting/gift shop, The Gifted Ferret in Woodstock, Georgia. I was disappointed, because we both had holiday books we were signing, so it wasn't easy to reschedule. But safety first, so we cancelled the event.
The irony of it was, my holiday novella, Running In Snow, is about people getting stuck in the snow. One of the short stories takes place in a "rare Atlanta snowstorm". I couldn't have planned that if had I tried! So I went on Twitter to joke about it. I tweeted that my book signing for my "book about snow has been cancelled because of...snow." I used the hash tags #irony and #whatarethechances along with a few others, and the tweet sort of went viral. Over 3,600 views and eleven retweets within a few hours.
It also caught the attention of someone who posted it to the webpage of Atlanta's only major newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She wrote a nice article, giving me, Linda and the Gifted Ferret some publicity.
Here's the link to the article: https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/book-signing-for-book-about-snow-atlanta-canceled-because-snow/omA2qF2KkjZFRnnQNB1UaL/
Silvery Lining
So the moral of the story is disappointment can sometimes lead to something better. I had some sales and people contacting me about the book, so it turned out to be in my favor.
Speaking of Linda Joyce- she's an award-winning, Amazon Bestselling author. She writes Contemporary Romance and Women's fiction, often with southern settings. Her Fleur-de-Lis series has received acclaim, and her holiday book, Christmas Bells, is available on Amazon now for just 1.99.
This ironic event goes along with how the year had gone for me. It’s been a strange one, and I’ll cover that in my next post.
Until then, Happy Holidays to all!
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