Eileen Cook

I am terrible about posting here. You can always find me on www.eileencook.com!

If you are looking for regular updates- I blog on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays on my website www.eileencook.com.

You can also see, and my fellow debut authors, on the group blog- www.thedebutanteball.com. Come and watch us go through our book launches together and see our sanity slowly crumble. We also bring in some great guest authors. This year we've had Meg Cabot, Meg Tilly and John Grisham (just to drop a few names!)

Thanks to everyone who's been a great support for me during the past few months. Be sure to email me and let me know if you enjoyed Unpredictable. eileen@eileencook.com

How does a $75 gift certificate to Amazon take your fancy? I'll be giving away two, count em -two, gift certificates to some lucky blog readers.

What do you have to do? It's simple- I need you to pimp my book. Help me spread the word of Unpredictable's release and not only will you gain valuable karma points AND my eternal gratitude- but you could also walk away a cool $75 richer.

There are two ways to win:

1) Spread the news! Send an email to at least five of your friends, family and coworkers letting them know the book is coming out and have a link to the book a bookstore of your choice- Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells etc. CC me on the email and Voila! just like that you are entered to win. Don't think of it as a crass promotion of my book- think of it as spreading literacy.

2) Creativity Counts! Come up with a way to promote the release of Unpredictable and let me see your handy work. Maybe you convince your local bookseller to create a front of floor display, or you hang posters of the cover around town or you plan an "Unpredictable" party for your girlfriends. Heck- maybe you and Oprah are good friends and you give her a ring on my behalf and get her to invite me on the show. This is your chance to live out your secret dream of being a book publicist! Send me what you've done and you're entered.

The contest ends on Feb 29, 2008. Start thinking of your options- the release date is less than a month away!

This news story just made me sad Wife Takes Husband’s Ashes to Football Game.

Apparently this fellow had been a Steelers fan since he was a small kid. He died in his 60’s without ever making it to a game. His wife went after he died, bringing him along in his urn. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing you don’t get a great view of the game from inside an urn.

Wanting to go to a Steelers game should not be an impossible wish. It wasn’t like he wanted to be an astronaut or win Dancing with the Stars. I have to wonder what other things got in the way that kept him from going before it was too late. I’m guessing it was nothing major- most likely he meant to go “one of these days.”

What could happen if instead of “one of these days” you made the vow you would reach for one of your dreams THIS YEAR. What if you started by taking one step towards that goal today? Always dream of going to Paris? Skip the latte and start pooling your money. Want to write a book? Do it one word at a time, page by page. Run a marathon? Get out your shoes right now and go for a walk. Don’t wait. Do it today. Take one step closer. Physics teaches us that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. GET IN MOTION.

There are no do-overs in life. You can’t get to the end and think “you know, next time I do this, I’m going to go the game.” If you wait it means your loved ones paint their face, bring you along in a box and talk about how much you would have loved to have been there.

My advice for 2008? Get into the game.

This is a non technical person attempting to be tech savvy.