New eBook Free Thru December 2

And–the eBook is FREE from November 29 through the following Monday, December 2nd.

Plus, I’ve joined some new program on Amazon where, if you buy the print book ($38), you can get the eBook for .99.

What is this book about? Everything, almost, that Baby Boomers remember from Christmas past:

• Aluminum trees, real tinsel, Bubble Lites, and all the other decorations
• The foods! Butterball Turkeys, Green Bean Casserole, Chex Mix and more
• The songs! The holiday hits of Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Elvis, Alvin and the Chipmunks–and Nat King Cole singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire “
• More entertainment: The origins of NORAD’s Santa Tracking, the Nutcracker Ballet, and all those wonderful TV specials
• The TOYS!

Barbie and Ken and Chatty Cathy Stingrays and bikes and skateboards Hula Hoops and Frisbees and SuperBalls Candyland, Clue, Life and more Costumes and Guns and Dummies and Models andPaint-by-Numbers and Rat Fink! and so many other delights . . .

Why Free?
Because I think that once you see this gorgeous, full color book, you'll realize it is the perfect Christmas present for the Baby Boomers you know.

So grab your copy now!

Here are all the links you need:

To buy the eBook at Amazon

To buy the printed book at Amazon

To visit the Boomer Book’s Facebook Page

My Poor, Neglected Blog...

Running down stories and events about Los Angeles history used to be a nice respite from other activities--but lately, I've been planted in front of the computer doing research all day, so more research no longer qualifies as a break.

Instead, today my break was a walk at Peck Park with the dog, where I listened to a few lonely crows (at least, they sounded lonely), took pictures of lizards that didn't turn out, and one of the port that did.

I can, however, point to some new accomplishments:

• Best review ever (well, the sort I dream of) from the Historical Novel Society for my novel, Death Speaker

• A new Chicken Soup book with one of my stories, coming out May 21: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers: 101 Motivational Stories for Writers - Budding or Bestselling - from Books to Blogs

• Entering the design / layout / feverishly-rewrite-and-fill-in-gaps phase of my new book, The Boomers Book of Christmas Memories. That is what's keeping me glued to the internet, running down facts and dates and looking for pictures. 

The release date for the Boomer Book will be in September. And if anyone has a pictures of their bicycle from the 1950s or 1960s--with or without you in it, as long as the pictures is yours to control--I will give you a free book if you let me use it (with thanks and attribution, of course!)

If you're interested in Boomer trivia, check out my newish blog at Boomer Book of Christmas.

Valentine's Day--Back in Business

This olde Valentine comes from the California Historical Society newsletter, with an apology.

No, a thousand apologies! and a note to Jose, who posted a comment that reminded me how I've been neglecting this blog for the past two weeks.

I will do better!  I've already got a site for Mosaic Monday next week in Cerritos.

The truth is, I'm on the last leg of my next book, a treasury of Baby Boomer trivia. I'm trying to pull everything together.

Everything in this case means:

• Finishing the book (making progress)

• A new website & blog (done)

• Aggregating my blogs at one site (not done)

• Finding pictures (help! Anyone have pictures of themselves in a coonskin hat, standing in front of an aluminum Christmas tree with their new Schwinn bicycle? Or something like that?)

• Securing permission for pictures (slowly making progress) (I think)

• Learning Pinterest (not yet)

• Learning to use Twitter to find readers (I've taken the first step)

• Not neglecting the first book, a novel called Death Speaker (scroll down to the right). Which, I can't resist adding, recently "sold" 1,115 copies during two free days on the Kindle Select Program. Yay!

Back in the old days . . . and I'm talking really old, like Charles Dickens old days . . . authors didn't have to worry about this. They could just shut themselves up in a garret and write. In longhand. And starve.

Given how much I like food, especially good food that I didn't have to cook, it's probably best that I was born in the 20th century.

Writers Calendar for Los Angeles...and Rodeo Drive in the 80s

Announcement time:

How many writers follow this blog? I have put up a gift for you: a calendar of events that would be of interest to scribes.

The WritersCalendarLA covers all sorts of events: social meetings and mixers, classes, seminars, panel discussions, full-on presentations (for example, the Writers Guild Foundation hosts a show tomorrow, Jan 17, 2013, featuring stand-up comics who've become writers), critique groups, Toastmasters for writers, you name it.

There are two exceptions to the above description--two types of events that are not listed on the calendar itself:

• Poetry slams and readings: Poetix has a great calendar of these, so I simply refer people there.

• Book signings by authors:  Too many to list, but under the Bookstores tab I have an alphabetical list of bookstores with links to their own calendars.

The WritersCalendarLA is color-coded by area so you can key in on the events close to you. Los Angeles is black, the Valley brown, the San Gabriel Valley and Pasadena purple, the Westside blue, South Bay pink, Long Beach into OC green.

As I've been telling people--the only reason an event is omitted is because I don't know about it yet. So please keep me informed.

And...just so I can say I stuck in some history here, guess which decade these dashing Rodeo Drive shoppers were snapped in?

This photo is © Anthony Hernandez, courtesy MACK / www.mackbooks.co.uk, and comes from a Flavorwire photo-essay, "Fascinating Street Shots of Rodeo Drive Shoppers in the '80s." And the 80s, as we all know, is Ancient History now.

Flavorwire has an eclectic mix of photos and lists--a third of them delight me, a third make me shrug, and the last third make me wonder "What sort of oddball would care about that?"

Vive le difference!