Category: General

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A Holland Christmas For Expats

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Sinterklass on his White Horse

 

Many of you know that I grew up in Holland during the 1960s. It was an experience that shaped much of my life with respect to habits, interests, and most importantly, travel. It was also an experience I wish every American could have during their lifetime.

So many of us think the world revolves around the United States. Well, it doesn’t. We are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world, but we share the world with others. Living in a foreign land will open up so many things to the American expat. You will experience different traditions, cultures, and a lot of really, really good food you never would have had otherwise. One of those traditions that might be different for you will be Christmas.

Here comes Sinterklass…

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Build It and They May Not Come

Field of Dreams. Photo (2006). Madmaxmarchhare of English Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons.
Field of Dreams. Photo (2006). Madmaxmarchhare of English Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons.

I decided to become my own publisher (Yooper Publications) when I realized I was going to write an entire series of walking tour books based on European cities and their historical events and historical periods of time.

I’ve learned a lot

I entered the fifth and final phase of the publishing spectrum the moment we published (and picked up) the first book, Where Did They Put the Guillotine? —A Walking Tour of Revolutionary Paris (1789–1794)–Volume One. This final component is the marketing and public relations portion of my journey. In other words, getting people to become aware my books exist. You remember the movie where they build the baseball field in the middle of the Iowa cornfield? It was the “build it and they will come” type of mentality. Well, not true in the case of trying to sell one’s book in an industry where 2.2 million books come on the market each year (walk through Books A Million sometime and take a look at the competition—that should sober up every aspiring author). Read More Build It and They May Not Come