Beth Dolgner, Writer and Editor

On June 26, 2009, I celebrated the launch of my first book, “Georgia Spirits and Specters.” In the one year since that time, my second book, “Everyday Voodoo,” debuted, I revised my paranormal romance manuscript, and I got signed to a literary agent.

Homemade cookies at the "Georgia Spirits and Specters" party.

It seems like a lot to happen in just one year, but there has been a lot of patience involved in all of it. Writing takes a great deal of patience and humility: patience as you wait for your book to debut, or wait to hear back from a potential agent. As for humility, well, you hear “no” a lot more often than you hear “yes.”

Thankfully, it only takes one “yes” to really get things rolling. When Dinah, my editor at Schiffer Publishing, said “yes” to me writing “Georgia Spirits and Specters,” it led to me authoring “Everyday Voodoo.” Having two books already published helped me get an agent at a well-established agency. Now, hopefully, that will lead to my fiction manuscript being sold to a publisher.

My year in publishing has been especially busy when you tally the number of book signings and radio interviews I’ve been fortunate enough to do. I’m glad all those Georgia ghosts got things rolling for me.

Paranormal investigators, I need your input on this photo! During our Girls’ Weekend in Savannah, my friend Elyse snapped a ton of pictures. She took a lot of the house at 432 Abercorn Street. I talk about that house in my book, and it’s probably the most unnerving ghost story in the whole collection.

The photos all turned out blurry: it was near twilight, and Elyse’s camera doesn’t like low light levels! However, out of all the photos she took of this house, this is the only one that had any sort of anomaly. The close up shows the front porch, and you can see two reddish-pink streaks of light, aligned vertically, on the front porch.

If you have any suggestions as to what this could be-paranormal or otherwise-please comment here. Is this paranormal, or is there another explanation for the anomaly? Thank you!

The economy finally caught up with me this year. On January 1, 2009, I had a full roster of clients and was slated to have a great year in terms on income. By February 1, cutbacks by clients had me wondering how I’d ever pay my bills. But I survived the year, and, in all other respects, 2009 was great. Here are a few highlights:

My first book was published: I finally became a published author in the spring of 2009 with the publication of “Georgia Spirits and Specters.” I still get excited when I go into a bookstore and see my book on the shelf.

DragonCon Thriller: This was my second year at DragonCon, and it was better than the first. I was there all four days, but Sunday was especially memorable because of an attempt to break the Guinness World’s Record for the most people dancing to Thriller. I was an instructor, and after four exhausting hours of rehearsals we had over 900 people dancing. We didn’t get the record, but teaching Stormtroopers, pirates, Aliens and other assorted creatures is a singular experience.

Yes, that's the Flying Spaghetti Monster behind me.

Denmark: The perk of Ed’s often insane travel schedule is that sometimes I get to tag along. At the end of his “tour of Europe” in the fall, I met him in Copenhagen for a quick vacation. I already wrote about the trip, and it was typical of our vacations: good timing, interesting chance encounters and a lot of fun.

A cute camel at the Copenhagen zoo. I swear he was watching me.

Two Girls’ Weekends: One Girls’ Weekend in a calendar year is a perk, but two is even better. In January, we went to California, where we invaded Hollywood and Disneyland. In October, we met up in Savannah for some Halloween fun. Whether I’m meeting Mickey Mouse or dressed up as Manslaughter Munchkin, I always have fun with Mom, Aunt Bonnie and Elyse.

Mom, Aunt Bonnie, Mickey, Me, Elyse

I met my favorite hockey player: In April, we went to practice for the Atlanta Thrashers for the first time. I took my great big Slater banner with me, and had Jim Slater sign it. Ed and our friend Rusty had to practically (okay, literally) push me over to him when the players came off the ice. What a terrible time for shyness to strike! Fortunately, I got the autograph on my banner, and Jimmy was super nice. He took the time to ask how I’d made the banner, and told me he expected to see it waving at the games. Between the last few games of the 08-09 season and this year, he’s definitely seen it waving.

Slater (#23) at warm-ups for the Thrashers season opener

How could you NOT see this waving?

My sewing skills improved: I started sewing a little over a year ago, so improvement was inevitable. I gravitate toward costumes, even though I don’t get much chance to wear them. I’m very pleased with the fairy and princess costumes I made for Rusty’s daughters to wear to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and I can’t wait to debut my Italian Renaissance dress at the 2010 Ren Fest.

My Italian Renaissance dress in progress.

So what will 2010 bring? More DragonCon, more traveling, more Girls’ Weekends, more hockey and more costumes, to be sure. Happy New Year, and here’s to a fun and adventurous 2010!

October is my favorite month of the year because I get to celebrate Halloween for four weeks. This year, Halloween is even more special because I’ve been promoting my book, Georgia Spirits and Specters. The wonderful folks at the Norcross Ghost Tour had me out for a book signing two weeks ago. The weather didn’t cooperate with us, but we still had fun. And, I got to tell ghost stories to a troop of wide-eyed Girl Scouts.

Things really ramp up this week since we are just seven days away from Halloween itself. On Sunday, October 25, I’ll be signing books at Oakland Cemetery during their nighttime Halloween tours. Oakland is Atlanta’s oldest cemetery, and my favorite spot in Atlanta. Tours are sold out for this year!

On Monday the 26th, I’ll crawl out of bed in time for a 7:35 call-in to the Bill Bailey Morning Show on Fun 101.1. You can listen to me on their website. Catch me again on the air on Friday, October 30, when I stop by the Fun 101.1 studios to hang out at 8:00 a.m.

If you’re in Savannah, stop by Magnolia’s, a fabulous gift shop at 137 Bull Street in the historic district. I’ll be signing books there from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Saturday – Halloween!

Before all the promos, I’ve got to put on my dancing shoes one more time. Guinness gave the Thriller world record to Mexico instead of DragonCon, despite the fact that they only danced for two minutes and didn’t do the full choreography. Guinness can’t keep us down, though. A lot of the D*Con Thriller alumni are gathering to participate in another record for the most people worldwide dancing at once. I’ll be in full zombie mode!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My friend Chris, who urged me to write this book in the first place, was at the Border’s in Buckhead on Sunday. He and his girlfriend Ashley spied my book, looking all nice with the cover facing out. It’s pretty cool to see my book in a place like that, and it reminds me what a beautiful job the graphics team at Schiffer Publishing did on that cover.

Georgia Spirits and Specters has debuted! If you’re not in Georgia (where it’s easy to pick one up from me or the bookstore), you can buy it right from my publisher: Schiffer Books. I’m very excited that my book is finally out! (As if you couldn’t tell.)

Also, Carroll County’s newspaper, The Times-Georgian, did a nice article about me and the two ghost stories from their county. You can read it here: New book on the supernatural. A username/password is required but it’s easy to sign up.