Yippee ki yay! Spring has sprung in West Palm Beach. Warm-blooded creatures such as your faithful scribe have been watching the AccuWeather reports daily to learn whether a jacket will be required the next day, or a comforter needed atop the bed sheets that night. Except for two days, April 13 and 14, when the high temperature is predicted to be 79 degrees, not another day will see a high of less than 80 until the cycle starts all over again in the fall/winter.
Which means – Friday (March 30), with the high reaching 82 degrees, will be a perfect evening for getting out and taking a leisurely stroll down the quaint, main drag in Northwood Village to check out the artsy wares we vendors will be hawking. Original works in a variety of styles will line the sidewalks of 24th Street for your viewing pleasure. The event, held each month, is called Northwood Village Art Night Out.
In the case of your scribe, his scribing will be on display. One of his scribed products is now an Amazon Best Seller in the Kindle version.
Scribed? Scribing? Yep. You can look it up. I did, and found out that’s what I did in creating my three novels. (In moments of discouragement, I’ve thought of it as scribbling.) Scribe can be a verb as well as a noun.
Johnny Carson
Okay, enough of that. I’m an author. I write.
That reminds me of a guest appearance on the Johnny Carson Tonight show many years ago. James Galway, the great flutist from Northern Ireland, sat on the couch next to Carson, who asked, “Which is correct, flutist or flautist?”
“Oh,” Galway said merrily, “I like to call myself a flute player.”
James Galway
But I digress. My first novel, Breaking Out, will rest on a vendor table beside my current one, MURDER IN PALM BEACH: The Homicide That Never Died. In the thin guise of fiction, that book tells the story of a sensational assassination in the posh island town in 1976. It gives strong clues as to the gunman and, more important, the person behind the shooting (the key word is important). Shocking stuff.
Murder is beginning its third week as an Amazon Best Seller in the category of Civil Law Procedure. Why Amazon put it in that category, I don’t know, since no civil law is involved. Criminal law is, and the book reached No. 3 in both that and the Criminology categories.
But the best part, as I see it, is that the book reached 3,700-plus in Paid in the Kindle Store. There are 10 million books in the Kindle store. That means it was No. 1 out of every 2,670 or so books in the store.
Sorry, my third novel won’t be there, for good reason. It hasn’t been published yet. I’m waiting for replies from the publishers I’ve submitted it to. The working title is Blood on Their Hands, and it’s loaded with suspense, action and humor, with a sad love story thrown in. Stay tuned.
Besides the sidewalk vendors, antique shops and distinct boutiques will be open for perusal of their wares. Participating merchants will make special offers, just as I’ll be doing with my books, which will be priced lower than they are on Amazon – and signed.
Art Night Out attendees will also be able to tour studios of local artists in a nearby section of Northwood, accessible via trolley.
So make it a night out. Have dinner at one of Northwood’s interesting restaurants, and then walk it off with a relaxing promenade among the arts and crafts, reveling in the balmy weather heralding the arrival of spring. The event runs (well, walks) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
