Friday, September 24, 2010

Tonight Meeting


Hello Ink Blots,

In light of Tony's condition, we have decided NOT to have our meeting tonight at the Ag Center. However, we do plan to meet on Friday, October 1st - at this point, probably at the Old Fort (back play/picnic area).

I am working hard to try and get the chapbook pulled together, so if you have not sent me your scary/ghost story, please do so ASAP. My email address is: brightmyer249@hotmail.com.

With any luck, we will be able to proofread the book on October 1st and still have time to get it printed before the Arts Festival on October 9th.

I'm not a very good substitute leader, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks!
Bobbi

Thursday, September 16, 2010

As many of you now know ...

... our fearless leader, Tony Sexton has been ill and in the hospital. Our meeting on September 10th was cancelled and the meeting for September 24th may also be cancelled, unless someone wants to step forward and lead the group. I'm not comfortable leading the group, but I am continuing to work and edit the two chapbooks we are working on.

The first one - Scary/Ghost Stories - has a deadline of September 24th in order for us to get it edited, proofed and printed by October 9th, the day of the Arts Council Fall Festival.

The second one - Library Memories - has a deadline of October 22nd and will be used at the grand opening of the brand-new Mercer County Public Library.

You can email your stories, poems or prose directly to me at:

brightmyer249@hotmail.com

Everyone will receive a draft of the chapbook before it is printed to make sure everything is correct and placed in the way you want it.

Please be sending in stories ASAP - the deadline for the first one is fast approaching and we currently only have 24 pages filled. The "Prose and Poetry for Pets" was 60 pages long and we don't necessarily need to have that many pages, but I would like to have between 35 and 40. These stories are not limited to people from Mercer County, so if you have friends that like to write, please tell them to send something in.

Please keep Tony in your thoughts and prayers, and hopefully he will be back with us very soon.

Spell-Bound

SPELL-BOUND

Terrifying experiences
signal a disaster is coming.
Although the surface seems calm and serene,
unbeknownst to them,
strange things have begun to happen
A long dead woman,
spell-bound by her beauty,
has been lured from her grave,
to make them pay,
to seek her revenge.





(Photo by Randy Ellefson)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Roberta Simpson Brown

Roberta Simpson Brown will be appearing in Harrodsburg on October 30th for "The Night of the Great Pumpkin." According to her website:
Roberta Simpson Brown is known by fellow storytellers as the "Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales" for good reason. Her chilling stories are set in familiar, contemporary settings-family rooms, farms, campgrounds-with an undercurrent of something very, very scary pulling the reader into the undertow of terror.
She has a new Ghost Story book coming out later this year. Some of her books include:
  • The Scariest Stories Ever
  • Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales
  • Scared in School
  • Strains of Music
  • Lamplight Tales

Harrodsburg owes a huge thank you to Chad Horn for sponsoring the appearance of Mrs. Brown. Horn's new store on Main Street in Harrodsburg is KENTUCKYLIT. Kentucky Lit welcomes Kentucky's "Queen of the Cold Blooded Tales" - she will be reading from her Parents Choice Award nominated book "Walking Trees and Other Scary Stories." After the reading, there will be a Book Signing/ Meet-and-Greet with Mrs. Brown

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

When I First Picked Up the Book ...

... I didn’t believe what I was seeing ...

... A genuine first edition “Trixie Belden Mystery from 1948. Trixie has always been my favorite book series, especially when I was a young girl.

There are 16 original books, but a few years ago, they found a new author and started writing more Trixie books – in paper back – ick, I’m a hardcover girl all the way, so I’ve never read any of the newer books.


I currently own the 1970 Whitman edition of the books, hard cover, of course, so these mean the most to me because I’ve always loved the covers. But deep down inside, I have always coveted the first edition books, even though they are truly rare, especially if you find one in good condition. The only time I’ve ever seen these books was from my babysitter’s daughter and they were much older than my collection.


I’ve seen the older hardcovers on eBay and Amazon, but $200 is a bit rick for my blood, so I never dreamed of owning a first edition ...

... until I walked into Dave’s Antiques. Dave’s is a little hole in the wall in the middle of Lancaster, Kentucky, and it feels like you’re walking into a cave. My anxiety normally keeps me out of places like this, but something was beckoning me into Dave’s.

As my hubby looked around at the older Depression glass, trying to find the green parrot pattern of glass. I saw the crate of books in the back of the store and I slowly walked to it. I sat down on a chair that reminded me of something out of Penn’s Store, easing into it so as not to break it down.

I slowly started pulling out the old books. There is just something about the smell and feel of an old book that makes my spine tingle. Old cookbooks – something my Momma loved – early readers, a third edition of an obscure Edgar Alan Poe book, and then there it was. I could hardly believe my eyes.

“Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion.” My hands were trembling as I opened the dusty books. It was not in mint condition by any means, but it was in good condition as as I turned to the title page, I couldn’t believe my eyes – 1958. I was holding in my hands a very first edition of a book I thought I’d never see.

As I carefully carried the book to the front, Dave was dickering with my hubby over a green parrot tea saucer.

“How much for this book?” I calmly asked.

“Don’t you already have that one?” my hubby innocently asked.

“No, I don’t think I do,” I replied, giving him that look.

“Did it come out of that crate in the back?” asked Dave.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Well, I’ll take $2 for it.”

I looked at the book and said, “It’s in pretty bad shape. How about $1.50?”

“Sold,” said Dave

On the way home, my hubby said, “you do own that book – I bought it for you.”

“I know, but this is a very first edition. Last time I found one on Amazon, it was worth $225.

My hubby was silent all the way home as I caressed my new, “old” book.


**(This was a jumpstart for the August 28, 2010 Nomadic Ink Writing Group)