Well, for me, July has been pretty uneventful. It's a bittersweet month for me because I will no longer be 'in my 20s' and that's kind of scary considering I still see myself as a scared, little freshman waiting for my first class in high school to begin.
But a freshman in high school I am not. Nope - I'm a soon-to-be 30 year old, married, and fortunate to have the greatest 3 kids in the world. While July has been pretty uneventful for me (I've literally only worked my day job for 9 days this month - though the days I didn't work I stayed home with my kiddos), it's been a pretty eventful month for my 10 year old son, Cameron.

You see, as I've previously stated in another blog post, my dear 4th (soon-to-be fifth) grader son has authored a children's book and all of the proceeds of this book will be going to Habitat for Humanity.
We have contacted every news outlet we possibly can, but initially hadn't had much success. He had a lot of author friends help post his book everywhere they could, but it wasn't going anywhere. No one seemed interested.
Then a break happened, on a whim I contacted Borders in Mansfield and they agreed to host a book signing event for Cameron in September. They even agreed to shelve his book for a few months to see if any local patrons would be interested in purchasing it.
But . . . sadly Borders is closing and they are no longer able to have Cameron for a book signing. We reached out to Barnes & Noble in Walpole, but the person in charge stated they do not shelve books that are nonreturnable (print-on-demand), and they wouldn't host a book signing unless we brought the books ourselves and paid them 40% of the intake. Which means I would've had to buy all the books out of my own pocket, tried to sell them at the signing, and then give Barnes & Noble 40% of whatever sales were made that day, essentially taking away from whatever money was raised for the charity. That just didn't sound right to me, so we're holding off on that.
Then another break came. A break by way of a news reporter from the Taunton Gazette who contacted us wanting to interview Cameron. Gerry from the Gazette came to our home on the 18th and was absolutely fantastic. He had a photographer there and asked Cameron a bunch of questions, making sure that Cameron felt comfortable (despite Cameron's nervousness he did very well). Within an hour he left and literally a week later the story appeared both on the front page of the Taunton Gazette and online.
Cameron was ecstatic. We purchased the 3 remaining copies left at the Trucci's grocery story beside our house. One to keep and two to give away. Then another big break came . . . Scott from Fox 25 News called me at 8 am on Tuesday morning (7/26/11) and a whirlwind of interviews have happened since. He was interviewed at 10 am that day, appeared on the 6 pm and 10 pm news, and was interviewed again by VB of the Fox 25 Morning Show.
We couldn't be more thankful! Cameron genuinely appreciates everyone's help and is truly hoping to raise a lot of money for Habitat for Humanity. He also hopes those who have purchased it, have enjoyed it. He literally hopped up and down excited when he saw a picture of a FB friend of mine who posted a picture of her niece reading a copy of his book on her kindle. The smile on the little girls face was absolutely precious, and it truly made his day. He gets such a great feeling seeing people happy, and knowing that his hard work will hopefully help a lot of people in the future.
So if you haven't already - check out the links above (they're blue so you can't miss'em) and perhaps purchase a book or two (eBook or paperback). If you have any national or local news connections, we'd love any forwarding or sharing you can provide! Thanks everyone for helping my son realize a goal in helping a great cause!
Amazon Kindle - Currently $2.79
Amazon Paperback - Currently $10.99
Direct from the Publisher (more $ goes to the charity when you purchase from here)
Barnes & Noble Nook - Currently $2.99
Barnes & Noble Paperback - Currently $7.19
Smashwords eBook - Currently $2.99 any format
Cameron also has a Facebook author page that he has been posting his links and messages to. If you have a Facebook account, feel free to LIKE him.