Friday, December 2, 2011

Black Friday Sales I’d Camp Out For

Within an hour of finishing my Thanksgiving Dinner, something strange, yet predicitble, happens. My Floridian blood, long dorment after a relaxing and productive summer, emerges and I am overcome by the familiar repulsion of cold. It’s around this time that I start wondering if global warming is really THAT bad.

You can imagine, given this scientific anomaly, that I am the last person you will see camped out, waiting for midnight sales while the mercury drops lower and lower. No thank you. But, as I watched the news report the insanity from around the country, I have two thoughts. The first is, thank goodness people is ultra-suppressed countries don’t have access to main stream media. After all, they don’t have enough food to feed their family and often have to fight for basic needs when we’ve just stuffed ourselves full of protein, carbs, veggies and sweets in preparation to wage war for the new Kindle Fire. (Why did an image of Katniss and Peeta on the train just pop into my mind?) Anyway, my second thought is what kind of sale would be enough to tempt me from my warm home to the long lines of frenzied bargain hunters. It didn’t take long for the consumer in me to start rattling off ideas.

1. Buy one case of (highly recycled) paper, get nine free. Hell to the yeah I would be waiting in line. I went through more than 7,000 pieces of paper last year. Between printing off copies for beta readers and the numerous drafts I marked up, that’s a lot of paper. (I added the recycled part to make up for being pro-global warming during the darker months of the year.)

2. Free books for one year to the first person in line from Barnes and Noble, including e-books. Seriously, with the amount I spend on books, I would skip Turkey Day all together and pitch a tent… starting on All Saints Day. (That’s November 1, for all you non-Catholics.)

3. Door Buster: Buy a gross of red pens from Office Max, get a $500 gift card from Starbucks. This makes sense. Afterall, I spend a lot of time at Starbucks with a red pen. It seems fair.

4. Also from Office Max, or any office supply place, really, buy a new office chair and plastic floor protector, get a custom-made desk built by Santa’s Elves to your exact specifications.

5. From Dell, since it’s been my computer of choice for the last eight years, buy a new desktop computer, get all the software needed to write the best-selling novel, a matching laptop and net book, along with all the accessories a budding writer needs to take it to the next level and an instant gift card for one case of paper (see 1… and watch the coupon diva emerge… )

That’s about it. There’s more on my Christmas wish list, which I will be posting as the holiday season gets into full swing. So to the people who make the decision of what goes on sale and when, please keep writer’s in mind when you pick your products.

What sales would catapult you into the crowds? No matter where your spending habits take you, BE PASSIONATE about what moves you! And have a wonderful Holiday Season! Also, don’t forget to check out my post regarding the signed copy of XVI I’m giving away! It’s an intense book and well worth the follow!