Today is the Day

and it's a good day for a launch party, don't you think?  I'm supplying many of the treats so my friend Star and I will be chopping up vegetables for a nice tray and I'll make some ham biscuits and sweet tea.

The Moon Pies were acquired yesterday.

In addition to catering, I've also been thinking about what to say when I'm introduced tonight.  Who I want to acknowledge and thank, what I can say about the journey from practicing folk magic to writing about it.  I have a little list of people--some of whom will be there--but I want to have it in my head about what I say about the process.  I could trust to chance--but who knows what would come out of my mouth?  I think I'll be too excited and freaked out to be wholly reliable.

Orders are now coming in and I am filling them as quickly as I can. My dining room table has become the Staubs and Ditchwater Order Fulfillment Center and I'm grateful to have such a nice problem.  I've mailed out almost all of the pre-orders--I needed a couple of addresses but those are in hand now and the remaining 3-4 will go out today.

I've had the enviable position of wondering if I'll have enough copies for the launch tonight.  Accent on Books only has one copy left of the ten I left on consignment, and I only have 35 copies left of the initial print run.  The publisher is ordering more on Monday, so running out of copies tonight would be kind of nice actually.  Especially if we run out as the last person who wants one today gets her copy.

If you're out and about this evening in the Asheville area, come by the store at 854 Merrimon Avenue and have a snack and a sip of tea with us. I, for one, am planning to have fun.

Signing and Mailing

At my little table, signing the pre-sells.

I've been feeling like a "real" author these days.  Which is funny considering I've been writing for years, have been published in all sorts of places and had plays produced locally ad regionally. But there's something about holding a little book in your hand--one that is all yours--that feels different.

All the people who believed in me enough to pre-buy the book--even before it went to the publisher--deserved a little something extra.  So I made handmade bookmarks as a thank you.  Each bookmark has a pendant that is a red dirt talisman.

So preparing the books for shipping was about signing them, creating a bookmark, making a cute shipping label, wrapping the book in tissue paper, tucking the bookmark in, popping it into a mailer, then going to the post office.

Which I did today.  Well, the post office part.  A really nice postal worker named Rick chatted to me through the whole--one by one--process. It was a great pleasure to have them on their way to the good folks who were waiting for them.

There were several to be hand-delivered and I've started that process, too.  But for now, I am focusing on Friday's book launch party.

It's in My Hands---and Out the Door

I picked up a couple of boxes of books from the publisher a couple of days ago and am now fulfilling those pre-pub orders.  I thought I was more or less ready but am finding that there were several more things I could've done to get ready for this wild rush.

I had acquired padded  mailers and counted them out.

I had printed out labels, but hadn't addressed them.

I had started the red dirt talismans but still had to pour the liquid resin in.

I had designed the bookmarks but hadn't figured out the text. Or printed them out.

I had chosen a date for the launch party but hadn't created a poster.

It's been a bit hectic--but in a nice way--around here.  I'm spending the rest of today tucking a wee bookmark into each book, signing it to the person who purchases it, wrapping it in some tissue paper and sealing it into its mailer.  Then the label. Then the post office.

And it is all great fun.

Launch Party info

Accent on Books is pleased to celebrate H. Byron Ballard's book "Staubs and Ditchwater: a Friendly and Useful Introduction to Hillfolks’ Hoodoo" with a launch party on Friday, June 15th at 6PM. The book is Ballard's first and is published by Silver Rings Press. Ballard will speak about the process for creating "Staubs and Ditchwater", read a little from the book and copies will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the bookstore at 252-6255 or info@accentonbooks.com. Accent on Books is located at 654 Merrimon Ave, in north Asheville.

Announcement of Publication--Ta-da!

Silver Rings Press, an imprint of indie publisher rENEGADE pLANETS pUBLISHING, Candler, NC, is pleased to announce the publication of “Staubs and Ditchwater: a Friendly and Useful Introduction to Hillfolks’ Hoodoo” by H. Byron Ballard. Ballard, a popular blogger and essayist, is a western North Carolina native whose work has appeared regionally and nationally.

The book—part memoir and part instructional primer—is an entertaining introduction to southern Appalachian folk magic.

Ballard leads local and regional workshops on these traditional practices and techniques. After much thought and conversations with a wide range of people, she decided to share some of this information from, in her words, the fading traditional cultures of the southern Highlands. She found that there is a hunger in both the dominant culture and in her spiritual community for authentic information on this subject. She did some research, talked to some home-folks and created a series of workshops based on what she’s learned and practiced over the years. This little book—drawn from the workshop series-- gives the student a good over-view of techniques, history and a glimpse into the culture from which they all flow.

Available June 15, 2012, this book may be ordered through the author at www.myvillagewitch.com, byronotthepoet@gmail.com.

Ballard is a witty and engaging speaker, so if you’d like to book a reading with her, she’d love to discuss that, too, at byronotthepoet@gmail.com. 828.216.8961

Green Folders Full of Information: Press Packets Are Us

Hi, all!  A quick note to give you the update on the little stinker of a book.  We checked out the proof earlier this week and had a few things to tweak.  I am hopeful it will be uploaded to the printer in good time--perhaps before the weekend.

Last week I spent many days enjoying myself at the Pagan Unity Festival in middle Tennessee.  I talked about the little book and handed out my hand-made handouts--colorful tracings of my hand with the book info in the palm.

It's one of my little jokes.

Before I left for the festival, I created some fat press packets to deliver to a couple of local bookstores.  They contain a press release, some bio information, a photo, reviews/blurbs of the book and ordering information, a Moon Pie--all tucked into a pretty green folder.

They are great fun to make.  I'll create a half-dozen more and send them to stores out of the area.

I'm starting to arrange library talks--one so far. I hope they'll host me at the Enka-Candler branch since that's where I grew up.  And at the West Asheville branch--where I spent most every Saturday morning.

We designed the shipping label for the books that are being mailed out and I'll start prepping those tomorrow.  I pre-sold several more copies at the festival and need to make a few more of these super-cool bookmarks.

In other words--so far, so good.

Got It Covered...sort of

 It seemed so simple. Easy. Gentle.

This lovely cover was designed ages ago by my formatter and friend, Dio.  I even have it on a 7-day candle that I use for my Village Witch displays.

But it was a little stinker, as we say around here.

When the "back matter" had been added and the allowance made for the spine, there was a problem with the trim line and the text being too close to it.

Mercy.

So it took some time to solve that little dilemma.  And I worked on my patience for a bit.

la la la  drum, drum, drum (imagine me with my elbows on the table, gazing out the window, drumming my fingertips...)

I have so much to learn about patience and trust and this little book has been an awfully good teacher.  I hope you learn as much from reading it as I have from going through the process of publishing it.

Lawsy.  Keeps my gratitude spout wide open though.  Nice to remember there are good people and great kindness in my little corner of the big world.