Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day And Twitter Parties

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day for lovers.

According to Wikipedia, “Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD.”

WOW, I have a feeling when Valentine’s Day was celebrated in 496 AD it was nothing like we celebrate now. Each year it seems it gets a little more out of hand - the flowers, the candy and the gifts. When I was in high school, students exchanged cards and boxes of candy. If you got a flower at school, it was usually a single rose but mainly the flowers were given after school at home. Nowdays, high schools look like a florists with so many bouquets of flowers being sent by the students to other students.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with exchanging flowers, candy and cards. But it’s the simple things - everyday things - that have so much more meaning to me. The flowers that I prefer are the ones that come from the nursery so I can plant them, rather than from a florist where their beauty only lasts a week or so. I love roses, but I also love unusual varieties of herbs. Spending a lot of money on a gift doesn’t always make the gift special. How you give the gift and who’s giving it, now that’s special.

I’ve said all of that to lead up to a book giveaway and some interesting events going on Twitter today to celebrate the ‘day of love.’

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a #SciKiss Twitter Party with THE SCIENCE OF KISSING author Sheril Kirshenbaum (@Sheril_).

@GrandCentralPub is hosting an all-day #SciKiss Twitter party today (Monday, Feb. 14) with all tweets related to THE SCIENCE OF KISSING and everyone is invited to attend! The day will be filled with all sorts of fun – trivia, giveaways, discussions, and much more.

In addition, Brianne from Hachette Book Group will be hosting a very special Valentine’s Day BlogTalkRadio show at 3:30 p.m. with Sheril and SEALING THE DEAL author, Diana Kirschner: http://ht.ly/3U85r. You won’t want to miss this fascinating and exciting discussion, so mark your calendars!

Also, in honor of Valentine’s Day and thanks to Brianne and the
folks at Hachette Book Group, I can offer 3 more copies of THE SCIENCE OF KISSING as a giveaway. So if you missed your chance earlier at a copy, try again. Be sure to check out the giveaway guidelines at the end of the post and remember, books will be given away throughout the day on Twitter as well.

There’s also another Twitter party going on today to celebrate the day of love.

Forever Romance and Grand Central Publishing invite everyone to attend their “Valentine’s Day Twitter Party.” Be on @ForeverRomance and hashtag your tweets #4evrloveday to join the fun.

The party will get underway at 9 a.m. and run till 5 p.m. today, Feb. 14. Various authors will be at the party and they can’t wait to meet everyone.

Now to the giveaway here for a chance at 1 of the 3 copies of THE SCIENCE OF KISSING, send me an e-mail (mcbookshelf@gmail.com). Your subject line should read, “Win Valentine‘s Giveaway.” Your message should include your name and mailing address. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only and no post office box addresses can be accepted. In addition, Hachette is advising winners that they will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if they win the same title in two or more contests, they will receive only one copy of the title (or one set in the case of grouped giveaways) in the mail. (Winners here have always be great about letting me know if they have already won the book somewhere else so another winner can be selected. However, this announcement is something that has to be passed along from Hachette). And, just so you know, I don’t share the mailing information or use it for any other purpose. The deadline to enter this giveaway for a chance at one of the 3 copies of THE SCIENCE OF KISSING will be 8 p.m. (EST) on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Here’s another look at the book trailer for THE SCIENCE OF KISSING, enjoy.


Hope everyone has a wonderful and HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY filled with all the things you love and wish for. Keeping in the spirit
of the day, I’m sending you virtual flutes of champagne, bouquets of roses, and boxes of chocolate.

19 comments:

  1. There were many young high-schoolers with bunches of flowers, teddy-bears and expensive chocolates here in my school today too. Does seem a bit over the top sometimes, I think a nice secret note from an anonymous valentine would be much more exciting when you're a teen.
    Good post :-)

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  2. Thank you for the update and virtual fĂȘte! Returning virtual herbs and some beautiful perennials to grace your garden. Hope your Valentine's Day is splendid, Mason!

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  3. Charmaine, a secret note from an anonymous valentine sounds perfect. It has mystery, intrigue and wonder.

    VR, thanks for the virtual herbs and beautiful perennials. May your Valentine's Day be filled with all the things you're wishing for.

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  4. Hooray, hooray, it's Valentine's Day!

    But seriously, I completely agree with you on how the little things matter more than Valentine's Day commercialism. It's funny, though, how it seems a lot of people feel that way, and yet - there must be something to the industry since it keeps growing larger each year... Let's hope that people remember the little things too, then...

    Anyway, great post and Happy Valentine's to you! :)

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  5. Happy Valentine's Day, Mason! And you're right...seems like it used to be a lot simpler!

    Thanks for letting us know about the Twitter parties!

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  6. I'm totally with you on the chaos Velentine's Day is nowadays. I think it quite ridiculous. I'd rather be given flowers on a day that the media did tell everyone to do something romantic. Because then it would be the man's IDEA and OWN thought. It kinda makes this day useless when you think about it like that, doesn't it?

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  7. Mason - You are so right! A simple gift that really means something to the person getting the gift means so much for than an outrageously expensive box of candy or basket of flowers. I've even seen commercials advertising expensive jewelry and cars for Valentine's Day. Yikes! It really did used to be much simpler...

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  8. I think I'll help myself to some of those virtual chocolates ... Happy Valentine's Day to you :)

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  9. We haven't really celebrated Valentines in my country before so I've never really got any Valentines gift in my life, but now the trend is slowly moving in here too...
    This day is mostly known here as the day of the Saint protector of wine and grapes.

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  10. Happy Valentine's Day, Mason. Sending you a virtual basket filled with chocolate mint and other luscious herbs. Have a wonderful day.

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  11. Happy Valentine's Day! I prefer everyday things, too. However, I think I’ll go now and open that virtual box of chocolates. Thanks.

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  12. Happy Valentine's Day! When we lived in France, Valentine's Day was just for lovers and I really thought it was better that way.

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  13. How totally fun!!! I love it!!!

    HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY to YOU!!!!

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  14. What a catchy title and brilliant idea for a book!

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  15. I receive my copy of THE SCIENCE OF KISSING TODAY. I was excited, but it didn’t even dawn on me that I got it on Valentine’s Day. I wonder if it was planned that way…

    I just started reading it. It’s pretty cool.

    By the way, did you know one of those St. Valentines was beheaded? Freaky, huh?
    \

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  16. I have a feeling St. Valentine would be appalled at the kind of nonsense that goes on today on February 14th. Valentine's Day gets on my nerves with all the consumerism and self-obssession.

    Jai

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  17. Thanks for the info on the twitter fun :) Hope you're having a wonderful day!

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  18. Y'all are the best. Hope everyone has had a wonderful and Happy Valentine's Day. Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it even when I can't be here. Thanks again.

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  19. Happy Valentine's Day, Mason!

    You should check out my post from today. Good news awaits... :)

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I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's post. Thanks for dropping by.