Southwest Cottage Designs: Baskets

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Baskets for Writers

What do you use baskets for in your home? I like to use them for fruit, candy, magazines and books, and lately, for bringing my tomatoes in from the garden. On the first Saturday of this month, however, I saw some baskets filled with a variety of goodies for writers. I attended the Howl At The Moon Writers Conference in Apple Valley, CA. As I walked in the door, I noticed beautiful big baskets filled to the brim with items a writer would use and a few snacks tucked in, too. Thinking it would be nice to win one of the baskets, I purchased a few tickets. Each person attending the conference was given one ticket. The conference lasted from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm. Toward the end of the conference, the president of the writers' group asked everyone to fill out a little survey. I began to fill out the form. In the meantime, I heard him talking but had my mind on filling out that important survey when I heard him say, "No one is coming forward. Let me call the number out one more time." That got my attention quickly. I grabbed my handbag, looked in my wallet where I had put the tickets and pulled them out. At that time the number was read aloud for the last time..."344892. " I raised my hand and excitedly called out, "It's mine, it's mine, it's mine!" I couldn't believe I had almost passed up the chance to win one of those huge baskets. They even let me choose whichever one I wanted. One writer walked over to me while I was pondering on which basket to take. "Get this one. My book is in here." Her book is a marketing book called "How to" Market Your Book, and I had heard it's a very good marketing book. Since the first edition of my book, Phantom Seven, has been published this summer, I was interested in reading this new marketing book. Not only that, but there were a couple of other books of interest in the basket, journals, pretty folders, and more. Even a package of M&Ms were tucked inside. Just look at this pretty basket: