General musings

I mean to post this every month, but it doesn’t always happen. Anyway, this is a reminder that I do a monthly e-newsletter that features my latest news, a couple of book recommendations, and a recipe. I also give away books to subscribers every month just for being subscribed to the newsletter list.

To sign up for the newsletter, click over to the home page and fill out the form on the right-hand side of the page. You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. I try to cross post and link to all of the major stuff (my book news, cover art, reviews, etc.) on all of the sites, but that doesn’t always happen either. LOL.

Anyway, go forth and sign up, if you wish. Hope everyone has a great weekend! 😉

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope you can spend the day with family, friends, and loved ones — and that Santa brings you plenty of good books to read in the new year. 😉

May your day be merry and bright!

I can’t believe it’s just a week until Christmas now. Where did the month go? Heck, where did the year go? It’s a mystery to me. LOL.

Anyway, I know folks will be super busy with holiday stuff, and I’ve got several family things coming up, so I’m going to slack off on blogging for the next week. I plan to resume my usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday blog schedule on Dec. 27.

Until then, here’s some Friday fun: the trailer for the Thor movie that’s coming out in May. Maybe I’m a little bias because my new Mythos Academy YA series is about Greek, Norse, and other gods, but I think the movie looks pretty cool. Gods and superheroes in one movie — stuff is sure to blow up. 😉

So stay warm, stay safe, and brave the malls to get those last-minute gifts … if you dare. 😉

Wheezely sent me an interesting link the other day: Why Did You Buy Me That. It’s a website devoted to the worst gifts ever.

Why did he send me this? Well, one year for Christmas, my stepmother bought me an olive tray. Seriously, an olive tray. I didn’t even know they made such things. For those of you who don’t know, an olive tray is a long, skinny dish that you put olives in to serve them. The only problem is that the dish is so long and skinny that nothing else will fit in it, except for Hershey Kisses lined up one by one. There was also a jar of black, nasty-looking olives to go along with the tray.

Needless to say, I don’t like olives, and this was one of the worst gifts I’ve ever gotten. It’s right up there with a men’s manicure set that another relative bought me one year when I was a kid. Yep, a men’s manicure set. I don’t know what that person was thinking, especially since I was like ten or twelve at the time. And, you know, not a man.

So anytime anyone complains about terrible gifts, I just look at them and say olive tray. So far, none of my friends have been able to top that. I don’t know whether that’s good or bad. LOL.

What about you guys? What’s the worst gift you’ve ever gotten? Share in the comments.

Something funny happened the other day when I was in my local office supply store. When I was checking out, the clerk looked at my ID and did a double-take. I was starting to wonder if something was wrong — or if she was just that horrified by the flyaway hair in my driver’s license picture — when she looked up at me.

“Jennifer Estep, the author?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

She smiled. “Oh! I used to work at a bookstore. I’ve read your books.”

And the best part was that she had enjoyed my books. 😉

This was the first time that someone’s recognized me like that (other than at a book conference), and I’ve got to admit that it totally made my day. So much so, that I was still smiling when I walked outside and got into the car.

“You’re beaming,” said Wheezley, my significant other.

I smiled a little bigger. “I just got recognized.”

I actually had to go back to the store later that day. Sadly, the clerk who had recognized me was gone, but I left some bookmarks for her with another clerk. I hope she got got them.

Authors — it takes so little to make us so happy …