Well, things seem to be rolling. Scott has sent out all of the packets to members of the Ghoul Squad, and right now there seems to be a bit of a lull in joiners. So, with idle hands and minds comes mischief.

What kind of mischief? Well, the kind of mischief only a crazy author and silly PA/Publicist can get into, of course.

Yesterday, (1/18/10) Scott (AKA The Chunk Man) dropped by RGI Central (AKA my house) to catch up, visit, and even discuss some of the plans for the Ghoul Squad. Among the things  on the agenda were supplies, stalled membership, tracking results, etc. One of the important items hit upon was creating a spreadsheet to tally the points reports for members.

Well, discussing the spreadsheet led us to, of course, the monthly prize for the winner. Scott mentioned that while he thought the prize was a good one, and that the prototype mug was great – as he sat there at the table coveting it – he still felt as if the incentive was a bit lopsided as an offering.

You see, he is not a coffee drinker and he postulates that not everyone else is either. I suspect he postulates correctly.

So, we set about the task of figuring out what we could offer in place of the special blend coffee for those who may not be java oriented. We considered tea, especially since I’m a big Double Bergamot Earl Grey fanatic myself, but we don’t have a custom tea blender type person, and that’s not something I know how to do. Fortunately, however, it didn’t take long before an idea that I could handle was born. Of course, said idea meant I was going to be spending some time in the kitchen. But, we all know I happen to like spending time in the kitchen so no worries there.

I know, I know, get to the point. Okay… I will. Since we have a “custom blended, can’t buy anywhere, fresh roasted coffee” specific to Rowan Gant, we decided to offer the following optional choice for non-coffee drinkers, or even those who just might want to try something different.

Custom blended, can’t buy anywhere, Hot Cocoa specific to Felicity O’Brien. (Hence the picture of said Irish spitfire above)… And so, the blending process is in its initial stages. Soon, the real life redhead behind the fictional Irish Witch of the Rowan Gant Saga (AKA my wife) will be taste testing the special recipe hot cocoas. As soon as one of them garners her seal of approval it will become the non-coffee option for the monthly prize winner.

We will keep you updated as chocolate and “essence of Bushmills” join forces to create what is destined to become an O’Brien family recipe.

Until then, keep handing out bookmarks and introducing new readers to the series. Make sure you keep track of your points and report them at the end of the month – also note, since packets were delayed, all points reported for January will be tallied with your February points – this means there won’t be an actual “January winner.” Instead, we will have a Jan/Feb winner, and then move on monthly from there.

And, remember, if you run out of bookmarks or chapter samplers, simply contact Scott via the supplies order form and he’ll send you more.

Murv and The Team at Ghoul Squad Central