Parisian Phoenix Publishing

Saturday, 7 a.m.: Wake and roll out of bed. Attend to animals, daughter, medication and coffee. I file more business paperwork.

8 a.m.: Check IngramSpark (no sales to note), review Amazon rankings, review Substack and social media analytics. I answer emails, of course. And organize and delete the onslaught of automated copies of emails to Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group that I receive as president. I jot some notes in my planner.

9 a.m.: Get distracted by a head of purple cabbage. Clean kitchen while watching reruns of S.W.A.T., use Ninja kitchen system to whip up batch of sassy Asian-style slaw and gather equipment to hot water bath for better shelf life. Receive notification that Larry Sceurman’s essay on our modern need for nature has posted on the Parisian Phoenix blog. Text him to let him know.

9:45 a.m.: While dishwasher is cleaning tools and mason jars, author Larry calls. We discuss the essay, his page on the Parisian Phoenix website (www.ParisianPhoenix/Larry) and his idea to make the journalist character in his upcoming novel, Mr. Albert in the House of Penguins, blind. He asks if our editor, poet and essayist Nancy Scott might be willing to share her experience as a blind writer. I encourage him to pursue the idea and reach out the her.

10:15 a.m.: Dishwasher has completed its cycle so I process the slaw into jars. Our photographer, Joan Zachary, and the source of the cabbage, is taking a jar and bringing a green cabbage from her CSA share at Terra Fauna Farm. I eat a slice of walnut fruit bread for breakfast.

11 a.m.: While the cabbage slaw is in the water bath, I slip upstairs to get dressed. Cabbage yields about four quarts of my sassy slaw. I post reminders that Joe Swarctz and Ralph Greco, Jr., the masterminds behind Echo City Capers will be at Moravian Bookshop promoting their latest release, the Echo City Capers Jr. Christmas Special. I post to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

12 to 1 p.m.: I finish Ruby Roe’s A Game of Hearts and Heists. I am not a fan of romance, sapphic fiction, or fantasy, but I am a fan of Sacha Black, the British self-published author behind The Rebel Author Podcast. I post a review on Goodreads and Amazon and post to Instagram and Facebook, hoping karma will pay off someday.

12:30 p.m.: Eva Parry gives me a copy of the program book she received from Darrell Parry in advance of this week’s Fifth Annual Easton Book Festival. I flip through, none of it surprises me as I’ve reviewed the PDF online. I postulate what publicity efforts might be most effective for the various events we have planned at the festival via Parisian Phoenix Publishing.

Eva and I depart for the Echo City book signing. We discover there is a Harvest Festival happening in downtown Bethlehem. We park by God’s Acre, weave through Moravian Academy’s elementary school campus, follow the path around Central Moravian Church, and find ourselves pretty darn soggy and cold by the time we enter the bookstore.

1 p.m. Eva and I spend an hour with Joe and Ralph. More social media posts.

Because there is a display of vespers candles, I tell the story of the year “we” almost burned down Central Moravian Church. The handmade beeswax candles used in vespers use flame retardant paper at the base. This particular Christmas, probably ’95 or ’96 because I was a head sacristan and had my own corner, they did not. We tipped the wicks of the candles with kerosene, as we always did. When we started lighting trays for the volunteers to distribute to the congregation, flames engulfed some of the trays. Volunteers in my corner removed candles to create a fire break. Another corner had the same problem and tossed the whole tray out the door into a snowbank.

But in today’s downtown Bethlehem, almost 30 years later, there’s a very loud cover band a few rooms away, sharing its renditions of All the Small Things and American Girl. I admire the Moravian stars on display. Moravian stars have 26 points and apparently equal-length arms– I can’t seem to find consistent sources on whether the 14 point or 8 point star is the Bethlehem Star. I also can’t find info on WHY the Moravian Star has 26 points.

3 p.m.: I arrive home to find, a cabbage from Joan, a package from Stitch Fix and a package from Ingram. I suspect it’s the advance reader copies of Juicy Bits. I decide to do a Facebook live to open the box. I normally do a YouTube video but I decided to do something different.

4 p.m.: I text some of the authors about the arrival of the first five copies of the erotic BDSM anthology. I coordinate some emails between Ralph, William Prystauk and I about our plans for before and at the launch party Friday night. Bill and I also discuss a potential new client.

I take the book to my reading chair so it can receive the same photo treatment as our other books.

5 p.m.: I decide to write a blog entry detailing “A day in the life.”

6 p.m.: I finish the blog entry.

6:15 p.m.: Start dickering with the blog entry layout.

6:30 p.m.: A second package from Ingram with the other 10 copies of the new book. I placed this order 5 days after the first, but paid for better shipping to insure their arrival before the launch Friday. Our books were originally printed in a facility about 15 miles from my house. Now they are coming from Tennessee so I never know how quickly they will arrive.