Ghost Orchid Seminar with D. K. Christi November 12, 2011

At the corner of Felts and Old U.S. 41 in Old Bonita Springs
is an unassuming little Florida house and a building next door that
houses a plethora of plants, shrubs and a special gift to the community,
a butterfly garden. Take a walk into the past where a small business
really cares about its community and its customers.

I asked Becky about the butterfly garden. She said someone told her
to cover it wtih screening to keep in the butterflies. "That would be
foolish," she said. "They are plentiful and deserve to come and go as
they please." The butterflies are plentiful. They light on your
fingertips as you enjoy a rest on one of the many benches designed for
passers by to simply enjoy the beauty. If you want to replicate her
garden at your house, the plants are available.

To celebrate the main planting season, free seminars invite the
community to hear author, D. K. Christi open the seminar day with a talk
about the exotic and rare ghost orchid, subject of her novel by the
same name, Ghost Orchid. Seminars start at 10:00 a.m. Saturday,
November 12. Following D. K. Christi, Allan Liles, former owner of the
Keystone Garden Center at the Garden Corner talks practical tips for
gardeners. The seminar participants are surrounded by butterflies,
aromatic herbs and healthy plants to purchase and take with them.

It's just an old fashioned get together among people who enjoy
gardening. Book stores are not always the best place to sign books; an
old fashioned day in the garden is much better.

Sounds great, DK, wish I could be there. Wishing you much success with it.

Thanks. Wouldn't it be fun to get together with those of us who have chatted with each other over the years...

yes, it does. DK. I had a very strange dream last week. I thought of sharing it, but then changed my mind, however with your comments, I will.
I dreamed that I had come into a large sum of money. I decided to invite at least 10 members on this forum to visit me - all expenses paid. There were a few that simply couldn't make it and they were replaced with a few others.
I was very excited and made plans for some tours, etc., etc. Then I woke up and felt such a loss.
The happy part was the feeling of finally getting to meet people that I've met on this forum. Who knowS, someday the dream may come true.

Dear DK,

I wish I could have been there, too. You have a power that I wish I had. It is Shelagh's Power of Persuasion and your own power to speak in front of people.

Abe,

I consider that we who have met on these message boards and conversed for years have a better understanding of each other than we could have had if we had met in person. Here, we have no shell unless we wish to have it. It is a rare thing to meet a person without the protective shell in public.

What you see of me here, is me. I believe that what I see of you is you and that goes on and on. It is hard to maintain a lie for years on end. There are people who think they can hide, but there is no hiding place once you put your mind into words. Even if the words are a lie, the lie is betrayed.

Love,

Betty

Betty Fasig wrote:

I consider that we who have met on these message boards and conversed for years have a better understanding of each other than we could have had if we had met in person. Here, we have no shell unless we wish to have it. It is a rare thing to meet a person without the protective shell in public.

What you see of me here, is me. I believe that what I see of you is you and that goes on and on. It is hard to maintain a lie for years on end. There are people who think they can hide, but there is no hiding place once you put your mind into words. Even if the words are a lie, the lie is betrayed.

Love,

Betty

What Betty said.

Ann

Betty, your wisdom is evident in what you write.

DK Christi....wonderful....wish I could be there to support you! Will do so from afar...

Lee

Thank you all for your support!!! It's such an informal venue, if anyone is anywhere within driving distance from Bonita Springs (just off I 75 in Southwest Florida) it would be great to meet you. The beach is five miles West - and it's a beautiful beach. We're just at the end of the elbow season for hotels - meaning a few are still affordable before the real season starts.

I'm always terrified of presentations until they start. Once I get going, I have a great time and the audience usually does also. Expectations from this one are high since the ghost orchid is such a mystery on one hand; yet, there are many orchid experts on the other who know so much more than I do.

For any new authors lurking out there....giving a little presentation at a group is much more fun than signing books at a book store. The people are usually more gracious too. Look around your community for places that are relevant to your book. It might be a tea shop, a coffee shop, a gift shop, an art league, etc. etc. I find the mainline book stores are becoming less hospitable all the time. Also they order a ton of books of which I only sell 15 or so and the rest are sent back to the publisher as "returns" which the publisher doesn't like at all.

I ordered a little device to put on my smart phone that is supposed to let me sell books with their credit card. Uh oh, lights are flickering - a bit of a storm; little bands from that hurricane down in Mexico. Some are a bit of wind and heavy rain, lightning and thunder. The DISH went out long ago. Lucky my wifi is on the phone line. Whew! Hard rain! Hope it washes my furniture. There go the lights. Drat!!!!

An author colleague of mine has book "launches" with everyone in the community participating with food, wine, give aways. She sells nearly 200 books at a whack. I've never gone that big with an event. I usually sell about 15 in an hour or so. The most I sold at an event was 35 - and that was a very accommodating restaurant. I've read her books - very quickly - they are not full of substance, just nice little reads. They are popular....

Very good idea. Something out of the box to promote the book with something related to the subject matter. I'm thinking of donig that with Beta. Since the heroine is into martial arts, I'm planning on distributing bookmarks to local martial arts centers and possibly seeing about a seminar or two.

Wish I could attend. It would be nice to get out of this Iowa cold.

When I was very young, I participated in karate until I reached brown belt level. I was a small town girl, ahead of my time and the only female in the school. We went to a competitive match in Chicago where girls didn't matter I learned that my school had given me a break, probably unintended. In Chicago, a competitor did not sufficiently pull his punch and I lost my air and the lights That was the end of karate for me. However, over the years, whenever I happened to fall for any reason, I was always complimented on how gracefully I hit the pavement. That was "leftover" from the training. I did a little kick boxing training in a gym recently and felt some of the kicks and punches still there in a fuzzy memory.

Back to book signings. I think the "book launch" idea with a big deal party is great if you can do it and a marshal arts studio is a nice, roomy place. My colleague got donations from the community for prizes, participation with music; I have to admit, I was envious.