Tuesday 15 November 2011

Congrats to Rosario...

Rosario Rodriguez won The Crescat's Seraphic Giveaway contest. She gets a copy of The Closet's All Mine. If you don't have one, you can of course get one from Amazon or (even better) if you are in the USA in the nearest bookshop run by nuns. If the nuns don't have it in, they will get it in. I think it is nicer to buy books from nuns than from Amazon if you can.

Otherwise, in Canada the book is called Seraphic Singles and in Poland it is called Anielskie Single and the whole reason this blog is up is to promote it/them. This is vaguely amusing because now the blog is longer than all three editions put together. And I hope this is not the literary equivalent of "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"!

Although this is a blog for feeling good about being Single, I am sometimes tempted to have a Bachelor Giveaway contest. Now that I am married, I meet nice twenty-something bachelors all the time. I wonder if this is because they are far, far away from their mothers and feel the need of an auntie; it is not like I suddenly became more beautiful than I was in my twenties. It could be that I care less; when I see a twenty-something bachelor standing around shyly in the parish hall, my first thought is not "Is he cute?" but "Does he know anybody?"

I don't care what they think when I come up to them and say, "How do you do?" I don't mentally skip to the chase. There is no chase to skip to. Well, actually, I suppose B.A. might succumb to scarlet fever and leave me a youngish widow, but you know, I don't think, when I see some wilting undergrad in tweed, "Oh! I wonder if that could be my third husband!" No. My motives are entirely pure, and then when someone vaguely their age is in earshot, I introduce them to each other, and push off.

In general advice-givers suggest young women not approach men directly, and I agree with this except when one new man is surrounded by people he doesn't know but you do, especially in a parish situation. I think in this case the corporal work of mercy of welcoming the stranger takes precedence over all other considerations.

That reminds me that if there are any Catholic girls living in south-east Scotland who read this blog, our Latin Mass community could really use some more twenty-something girls and thirty-something ladies. Hint hint hint. See the strawberry blonde lady in green tweed in the parish hall after Mass.

12 comments:

Sylvia said...

You probably are more beautiful than when you are in your twenties. When I think of the most beautiful women I know, at the height of their beauty, the ones that come to mind are/were in their mid to late thirties.

Haha, and when I saw, "Bachelor Giveaway," I thought hilariously to myself, "yes, give away a bachelor to us!!" thinking that must not be what you really meant. Is it??

As for blog vs. book, I have leant my copy of your book out to friends who do not regularly read blogs (I find not everyone likes to, though I certainly do!) and they have very much enjoyed it. I also recently reread it, cover to cover, and enjoyed the flow and organization of the book format more than the (necessarily) episodic nature of the blog. My verdict is a "both and" rather than "either or"!

Finally, I have recently been audio-reading "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" by Alexander McCall Smith, which I'm finding is primarily enjoyable for the narrator's very good impression of a Scottish accent (I think she's actually English) as well as the descriptions of Edinburgh. I'd love to visit Scotland someday!

Sylvia said...

Sheesh, sorry for the typos! *were, lent

Sinéad. said...

I contacted Columba Press in Ireland to find out where your book could be bought and received no reply. Didn't you say that they were the ones distributing it here?

I've asked in the two religious shops in town and they don't have it. The one has just bought the stock of another that closed down and are trying to get sell that first (they also don't have the new missal for that reason!). Veritas looked bored when I asked. I think amazon is the only resort for Paddies unless you have another solution...

Mrs McLean said...

HS, I personally know AT LEAST three excellent church-going Catholic bachelors under 33 who are great catches from any point of view, but I have not figured out who they can be brought to general female attention without a gross violation of their privacy. Also, it might not be good to them to have 500 Seraphic Singles readers to choose from in the manner of King Ahasuerus in "Esther." It would not be good for the readers, either. What to do, what to do.

Sinead, I do believe it is Columba that is in charge of distributing "Seraphic Singles" in Ireland and the UK. They might not, however, have any copies in; I would not be surprised. So in the case of Ireland and the UK, I have to admit that Amazon is currently your best option.

When I think of how enthusiastically Poland has signed on, I cry about Ireland, I really do. However, in publishing as well as every other career, it's all about luck or who you know, and nobody in Irish Catholic publishing knows my name at all.

Sinéad. said...

You know what Seraphic, there is an appetite for your type of book, but those in power ain't interested. That young man in the Mary Mediatrix bookshop seems a little scared of me whenever I strike up a conversation. I think it's because I is a laydee. I am going to buy 3 copies of your book in January and GIVE him two to put in the window and see if they sell. They will. It's on the main street in Dublin and is non-profit, all for the prolife cause. Mascara,a smile and two free books. If he says no there may be fisticuffs. No missal there either, even though he said people have been asking. It's ridiculous. I'll let you know hwo the experiment goes!

Sinéad said...

Pssst!!!!!!! 25,000 people estimated daily.

http://www.iec2012.ie/index.jsp?p=110&n=177

Hint hint! ;-D

Mrs McLean said...

Ah ha! Er, is that for bookselling or meeting eligible bachelors?

Mrs McLean said...

By the way, as far as I know, my most effective salespeople of the English versions of this book aren't professionals but simply fans of this blog!

Sinéad. said...

Ha! It's a huge exhibition hall in the RDS that's going to be set up during the International Eucharistic Congress. You have books to sell, Catholics will be attending.. Seriously, contact them if you would like to shift more books here, it's a prime selling market. Lots of contacts will be there and not just Paddies. Oh the craic would be mighty if someone would set up a stall with eligable bachelors - a chaste Lisdoonvarna. Brilliant!

Maggie said...

I wasn't going to make it to the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin because I fear I will be out of vacations days... but if Sinéad manages to set up a booth with eligiable, faithful Catholic Irish bachelors, I might have to move some things around.... ;-)

But yes, Seraphic, I vote you also go to the Congress to promote the Book!

Sinéad. said...

Oh do try to come Maggie, faithful Catholics in Ireland NEED this to be a success, our government has refused on record to invite the Pope and have no closed the embassy in the Vatican. It's shameful. I will set to work on the Bachelor Booth! Hopefully people will climb over us to get to the Seraphic Booth!

Mrs Doyle said...

Bother - we have a severe lack of young NCB's in Melbourne and you need NCG's in Edinburgh - do any of them wish to emigrate?
No, I'm serious.