Under Assault!! --- Hart Johnson's Azalea Assault Book tour

Past Lives and Fiction

First, I really want to thank Lee for hosting me! And I'm not going to get all metaphysical on you here... I was just thinking about Lee and his juggling... how he was part of a WHOLE WORLD that is different from what most of us will ever experience. Not that I have done anything quite THAT unique, though I was a licensed whitewater guide once upon a time. But I think we ALL have done things in real life that can feed our fiction with that realism, even if MOST of it we are just making up as we go along.

And because I am HERE as part of a book promotion, I thought I'd pull out some examples from The Azalea Assault where I'd had some experience that made the fiction more real:


Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

My first job out of college I was an account coordinator for an advertising co-op—the (XXXinsert restaurant chain hereXXX) operators from the (large west coast city) area... and every last member (nice people, seriously, but...) was successful and self made and believed the universe revolved around them. I was well aware that I was the lowliest peon from the hired help, but it was MY JOB to make sure all of THEM knew how important they were to us and the world at large.

That is not unlike the Roanoke Garden Society Cam works for—this is a wealthy bunch of people who believe gardening should be the center of the world and it is Cam's job to make it so... she is pulled in multiple directions, as each person has their own view on how it should play out. And it is HER job to protect them from anything that might go wrong so they can stay in their cozy bubble.


Friends and Family

We all have them. There is one primary relationship in this book that feeds directly off a relationship I have: the relationship between Cam, my main character, and her long-time best friend Annie. Annie is a bit (okay a lot) zany—in fact some of you might recognize a lot of me (my online personality anyway) in her—she is the rule bender and rejects 'proper' expectations. And she balances Cam's more rule-abiding ways. But my REASONING isn't that I wanted to be in the book—she really wasn't intended to BE me. I wanted the friendship to feel real and familiar because it is so central to the series. And I actually took traits from both myself and my lifetime best friend and reconfigured them—Cam got all the milder, responsible ones and Annie got all the wilder, nuttier ones. (believe it or not, I have some mild, responsible traits)


Sneaksing...

Oh, it's been quite a while... I have to recall my childhood, really... but those times where you hide where you aren't supposed to... eaves dropping, or trying not to get busted for being where you shouldn't be... I really have fun recalling those sensations... sometimes letting my MC get busted and try to talk her way out of it, sometimes letting her get away with it.


So no... no juggling... not even any whitewater rafting, but I think life managed to feed me some realism... What about you? Any of your real life experiences feed into the fiction you are writing?

The Azalea Assault
Cam Harris loves her job as public relations manager for the Roanoke Garden Society. It allows her to combine her three loves, spinning the press, showing off her favorite town, and promoting her favorite activity. She's just achieved a huge coup by enlisting Garden Delights, the country's premiere gardening magazine, to feature the exquisite garden of RGS founder, Neil Patrick. She's even managed to enlist world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques Georges. Unfortunately, Jean-Jacques is a first-rate cad—insulting the RGS members and gardening, goosing every woman in the room, and drinking like a lush. It is hardly a surprise when he turns up dead. But when Cam's brother-in-law is accused and her sister begs her to solve the crime, that is when things really get prickly.

Alyse Carlson: Alyse Carlson is the pen name for Hart Johnson who writes books from her bathtub. By day she is an academic researcher at a large midwestern university. She lives with her husband, two teenage children and two fur balls. The dust bunnies don't count. This will be her first published book.

Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indie Bound
Confessions of a Watery Tart

J is for Juggling

       
         Most of my long time readers know that I am a juggler and came from a juggling family.  My father called the act "The Juggling Jacksons" because that was our last name.  Besides the alliteration sounded good.

        Juggling was a sideline for us.   We would have loved to do it full time, but my father wisely chose the security of a regular daytime job.  His career was as an accountant for an industrial contractor.  And though he juggled books for a regular paycheck, his true passion was juggling objects.

       So what's this have to do with marketing and promotion?  We always had an agent or agents who booked shows for us, but as is often the case with anyone who has an agent sometimes you have to get out there and do things yourself to get the ball rolling--or in our case the balls and other objects tossing.

       We practiced our act regularly to stay in top shape for our performances.  Stage attire and props had to be kept maintained.  My father was always on the lookout for new gimmicks to make our act stand out.  He put a lot of thought, time, and sweat into making our act marketable.

        Like The Juggling Jacksons you and your business have a juggling act underway.  Some of you may be working jobs to pay the bills while you work at trying to get your passion off the ground.  You are juggling family and relationships, job, education, health, relaxation time as well as the dreams of success in whatever it is you are trying to achieve.

          Then there is the juggling act of your marketing efforts.  What do you need to promote what you are doing?  Photos, brochures, resumes, and other media?   How about conferences, trade shows, or other events that will further your reach?   You juggle time, money, and personal well-being and hope your act will reap some benefits of what you've put into it.

         Marketing can be a real balancing act for sure.  Plan your act carefully.  Practice the tricks you'll be using and then when you're ready you can hit the stage and perform before a real audience.  One thing you don't want to do when you're in the spotlight is drop the balls, but if you do just pick them up and act as though it's part of the act.

            What are you juggling in your life?   Have you achieved balance?

How about these J's:

Jenny Hansen's blog is More Cowbell.  If you don't get the reference and don't fear the reaper I think you'll find out where her blog title comes from if you go there and look around.

Reversing the initials we also have Hart Johnson who blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart, the blog where no pants are allowed and naked people get in free.

Are we bloggers a wacky bunch or what.

Finally, Michelle Jones at The Family Tales is offering a give-away at her blog.  Head over to her blog and you may be a lucky winner of a  a new customized blog design and/or custom header graphic.  The graphic design will be created by fellow A to Z blogger, Lisa Campbell.   

Related articles

• Mastering The Art Of Juggling (hellobeautiful.com)
• Things Jugglers Say (circusgeeks.wordpress.com)
• Mathematics of Juggling (mrhonner.com)