No Shortage Of Rain

For the most part,  the most part, Florida has been experiencing a drought for the last couple of years, with rainfall averages being considerably less than normal. As I’ve said many times, here at our place in Edgewater it’s even worse because the storms always seem to split when they get to us, dumping lots of rain a few miles north or south, but we will get a sprinkle or two and that’s it. That all changed today, and we definitely have no shortage of rain.

On the news last night, the weatherman said a storm system was coming off the Gulf of Mexico and would dump lots of rain across the entire peninsula, and he sure got that right. He predicted over 7 inches of rain for us here in the New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater area by the end of the weekend, and all indications are he is going to be right. It’s been pouring, then will slack off to a gentle rain for a while and then start pouring again. Our grass and citrus trees are sure loving it!

It occurs to me that with Thanksgiving on the way, now would be a great time for you to read my book Black Friday, which is the story of an everyday man living an everyday life until he goes shopping on Black Friday and meets a mysterious woman. Suddenly he finds his world turned upside down. Accused of murder, his family and friends turn against him, he loses his job, and it looks like he’s headed for death row. It’s enough to make me stay home and shop online come Black Friday! Check it out on Amazon, available in both print and e-book, or read it for free with your Kindle Unlimited membership.

Speaking of books, I’m going to vent here for just a moment or two. As you know, every week we have a drawing in the blog and give away audiobooks or printed books. Sometimes they are my own books and other times there are books donated by author friends of mine. Please folks, if you are going to enter the drawing and you win, download the audiobook code when you receive it. I was contacted by someone the other day who won an audiobook thirteen months ago and never got around to downloading it because it really wasn’t something he was interested in (then why enter the contrast in the first place?), and by the time he finally decided to do so, the code had expired because they’re only good for a limited time. So now I have to contact the author, and he has to contact ACX, the production end of Audible.com, and try to convince them to give him another download code. They don’t pass them out all the time and may or may not provide another one.

I’ve also had people win a prize, either an audiobook or a printed book, and then tell me they don’t want it, just send them the money instead. Or they will win an audiobook and tell me they don’t like audiobooks and to send them a printed book. Or they don’t want the book they won and want to exchange it for a different one. No, it doesn’t work that way. I’ve actually had a few authors who no longer donate audiobook codes or printed books for the drawings because of winners who have given them a bunch of grief about things like that. If you want a book, please enter the contest. If you don’t want it, don’t enter. It’s as simple as that. Okay, rant over. Please continue with your regularly scheduled activities.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Birdsongs, the first book in my friend Jason Deas’ excellent Benny James mystery series. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – Do you remember, back before the Internet, when everybody thought that stupidity was due to a lack of access to information? Turns out it wasn’t that.