No News is Good News!

So I just wanted to remind everyone of the old adage - no news is good news.

I will post anything more I hear or see about the book (i.e. the cover, actual publish date, book signings) here when I know.

In the mean time, thank you for your support and keep spreading the word!

"Everybody's a critic!"

So ever since I went public with the publishing of my book, I've experienced nothing but positivity and joy. It's been awesome, but on the back burner of my mind, I've known that eventually I'm going to have to face some critics and harsh words.

Eventually has arrived.

Apparently someone I used to converse with a lot, whom I haven't spoken to in years, has decided to "review" my book (but really review myself) without having ever read it in it's full form. I'm sure he had read my posts on Harpies Bizarre (or elsewhere as I understand someone had copied them and posted to another site of less than stellar reputation) and thinks the book will be just that. Let's forget that it's been through many revisions and additions...anyway, apparently my "book is just his opinions of each Bewitched episode with said opinion's being of less then sound mind and body."

I love it!

It reminds me of this awesome quote by Teddy Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Now, I'm not saying writing the book was done in sweat and blood, but it was many, many hours of writing as well as research, and it was all done with great enthusiasm and devotion. So what if my book is not a best seller? If it's not so perfect, so what? Quite frankly, I wrote it specifically for myself and it's just a bonus that there were other people who also enjoyed it enough to ask that I would get my writings published.

I'm not going to say anything derisive about my first critic, as really he's not criticizing the book so much as he's making an uniformed personal attack on myself, I shall just quote Endora when Durwood's mother asked her not to criticize Durwood:

"Durwood needs no criticism from me...what's wrong with him is for the whole world to see!" Bewitched, Episode #103: "It's Wishcraft"

Over 100 fans and counting!

The Facebook fan page for the book has reached over 100 fans (at this moment in time it is at 109)!! I'm so excited for all the interest in the book!

Hopefully soon I'll be able to see what the cover will look like so I can share it with you all (I get final approval) but I thank you for all your support! And please share this page and the Facebook page with everyone!

Paula Abdul's connection to Bewitched

My book would not be in the process of being published had it not been for pop princess and X Factor judge, Paula Abdul. It was she who pushed all her fans to work on their goals in the Fall of 2010 which is why I decided to give the book a go and submit it.

It may be that I go looking for it, but Paula has some pretty strong ties to the show which I'd like to present here.

Her second album was entitled Spellbound, a term often used in reference to witchcraft. But even more so, on the cover, Paula looked very much like Samantha's sexy cousin, Serena with short raven hair and a feather boa. In fact, as part of the publicity for the album, Paula did a photo shoot where she looks just like Serena in "Darrin Goes Ape."

One of the chart topping singles from Spellbound was "Blowing Kisses in the Wind." On Bewitched, Serena writes a song entitled "I'll Blow You a Kiss in the Wind" from "Serena Stops the Show."

Just as several celebrities (i.e. Willie Mays, Steve McQueen) were warlocks on Bewitched, Paula "proved" her witch-hood during her Under My Spell tour when she would fly up from the stage. A little later, during a benefit concert for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation (Elizabeth Montgomery was a big champion for AIDS education) called For Our Children, Paula magically appeared on the stage.

In the mid part of the last decade Paula released an exercise DVD program called Cardio-Cheer which was filmed at the Warner Brothers Studio Ranch out in the park and in the street. This was the same place that the outdoor scenes of Bewitched were filmed and there are times you can see the Bewitched house, like you can in this screen cap behind her.

Just recently Paula had an estate sale and Erin Murphy attended it and Tweeted that she was surprised to find that she and Paula wear the same size, so now Tabitha is wearing some of Paula's clothes!

I'll be forever grateful to her for being so inspiring, especially inspiring me to go after my dreams. You can follow Paula on Twitter @PaulaAbdul.

Do You Like Us, Really Like Us?

And by "us" I mean the book....

...there is a Facebook fan page set up at http://tinyurl.com/7gty9gm where you can interact with other fans of the book and also keep up on the progress of the book.

We are at 76 fans as of tonight and I'm really hoping to get to 100 before the end of the weekend. So please pop on over to Facebook and join the page!

Where can the book be purchased?

A fan from Australia posed this question, which tickled me as we're still possibly four months away from the release, but it is a great question!

Anyway, for those that are curious, I do know that one place will be bearmanormedia.com, however, that will only work for you fans in the United States.

But don't fear, those of you in places as far away as Oz, according to BearManor Media, you will be able to order the book on Amazon.com!

Stay tuned, as the minute I see a link up for a pre-order, it will definitely be announced here!

I'm also going to see about having it available in brick and mortar stores but I will have more information about that later.

And thank you all for your support!

Officially official!

Today I got a letter in the mail from BearManor which gave me butterflies before I opened it as I struggle with always thinking the worst is going to happen.

However it was GOOD NEWS!

I got my copy of the signed contract back which means I have evidence that it really is going to happen!! WOO-HOO!!

In the Beginning...

In my previous post, I mentioned some books that BearManor has published and it got me to thinking about the book that was very pivotal in fostering my knowledge and love of Bewitched even more.

That book is The Bewitched Book (1992) by Herbie J. Pilato.

I've always watched the show as long as I can remember and it really wasn't until I was close to junior high school age that I started realizing that there were actual real people that played Samantha, Endora, and all the rest. When I would look up information about Bewitched at the library (this was way before the days of Google or anything like it), I would only come up with books about T.V. that had maybe a page or two devoted to the show, but nothing more. Anytime I would go into a book store I would always head to the Film & Television section in the hopes of finding something about the show considering there were so many about I Love Lucy or Star Trek but my hopes were always dashed...that is, until the evening of my 16th birthday.

My dad had taken me downtown shopping and I'm sure I intended to go to the Disney Store but then we ended up at the book store as my dad always loves going to the book store and it was right by the entrance. I made my usual way down to the Film & Television section and about fainted when I saw the familiar title of my show emblazened on a blue book cover with the cartoon witch! I couldn't believe it! My dad bought it for me and I insisted my birthday shopping trip was over, that I needed to get home to start devouring this awesome book!

We got home around 9:30 PM and I headed to my room and began reading from cover to cover, blown away by the interviews with Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Dick Sargent, and a few other stars of the show. There were pics of them now days and most importantly there was an episode guide which blew my mind as there were 254 episodes!! And of those, 74 of them were in black and white, which up to that point I had only ever seen about three because of a trip that summer to my cousin's house where they had Nick-at-Nite. Anyway, I finished reading the book at 5:30 AM. I was overjoyed!

Over the years that book has been released in different editions and renamed Bewitched Forever, which is quite appropriate as any of us that are big fans of the show will remain bewitched forever.

Around the time the book was published the stars began to pass away and so the interviews they gave are quite precious.

Now, if you all ready have that book, why would you want to get my book? Quite simply, mine gives more detailed descriptions of the episodes, my own personal and entertaining reviews of the episodes, bits of trivia some of which hasn't been discussed before, and trivia about the times and events that were happening when Bewitched was airing to help keep the show in context. I think both mine and Herbie J's books will work well together and I thank him for providing such an invaluable piece to the literary history of Bewitched.

I should mention that Herbie J has several books published by BearManor Media as well about the 80s TV series Life Goes On, the 70s series The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman and a book about his time as a page at NBC.

A Bit about BearManor Media

You may not be familiar with BearManor Media, the publisher of my book, so I thought I would share why I chose them.

BearManor has been around since 2001 when author Ben Ohmart found that he liked the publishing aspect better than writing which lead him to create his own publishing company. They have focused on media-related biographies and recently have broke into TV series-related books.

The first book I purchased from BearManor was I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (Endora on Bewitched), written by Charles Tranberg. It quite honestly is one of the best, if not THE best biographies, I have ever read. It was very thoroughly researched and included many pictures not seen before.

Another book I have from BearManor is by actor and all around GREAT guy, Ron Masak entitled I've Met All My Heroes from A to Z. This was a fun little book, not so much biography, but really an encyclopedia of everyone that has had such a great influence on his life.

There are many other books from BearManor that I haven't acquired yet, but of course, the one I'm looking forward to the most is The Omni-Directional Three-Dimensional Vectoring Paper-Printed Omnibus for Bewitched Analysis a.k.a The Bewitched History Book by ME!

Please check out the great selection of books available from BearManor at http://www.bearmanormedia.com/.

The book mentioned on 97.1ZHT Morning Zoo!:)

971ZHT Morning Zoo 1-4-12 Part 1:

Click on the link above, and you'll hear the mention at about 36:00.

I have had a long time relationship with the Zoo which started in 2008 when they had the topic of stuff you collect that other people don't get. Of course, I mentioned my Bewitched memorabilia collection in an email and I was asked to call into the show. Later on I went in-studio with some of my stuff and had a really good time. Anytime anything Bewitched related happens in the Hollywood Sleaze, I'm mentioned. It's awesome when your friends tell you they heard me being spoken about on the radio.

Thanks Frankie, DB, and Jessica!

The Bewitched Stars Are Excited!

Mere hours after I had spread the word about the book then I started receiving messages from Bewitched alumni! How awesome that these people, some of which had very minor roles on the show, are excited about it!

Gary Richard was a 19 year old student in Salem, MA in 1970 when the cast and crew of the show went to film some episodes. He was chosen to play Dick Sargent and Robert Brown's stand-in as the Fisherman Memorial statue. Here is what he said:

"Hey David...of course I need to ask if the Salem episodes and yours truly are in it, lol!!! Congrats!"

I replied, "Gary, you silly statue, of course you're in it! Finding you was one of the biggest events in recent Bewitched history" to which he responded, "Awesome! I look forward to getting a signed copy, please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help :-)"

Heather Woodruff Perry was in three episodes in the Third Season as Durwood's secretary Betty and I met her in 2008 at the Bewitched Fanfare. She is truly a wonderful person and I'm so blessed to know her. Here's what she said:

"David, I'm soooo PROUD of YOU!......I am also working this year on the 427 page, Agnes Moorehead book, which I will also be Producing and Acting......Yea BEWITCHED! xx"

And, last, but not least, Erin Murphy who played witch baby Tabitha for six seasons just told me today on Twitter: "Congratulations! EM"

This is all so cool!

Tentative Publishing Date!

In speaking with the Publisher about the timeline of how things will go from here on out, she said that she has scheduled a tentative publish date for May 2012!! And, if things go very well at the printer, it could be earlier!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Welcome to My Journey!

As you may know by now, I am about to become a published author! As of tonight, I have signed the contracts with BearManor Media (the Publisher) to get my first book published.

It will be called The Omni-Directional Three-Dimensional Vectoring Paper Printed Omnibus for Bewitched Analysis a.k.a. The Bewitched History Book. "The what?!" you may be asking. Well, for those of you not very familiar with Bewitched, let me explain....

In the Seventh Season episode "Sam's Psychic Pslip" Durwood a.k.a. Darrin calls on Dr. Bombay to find his witch wife Samantha as she's gone shopping and may be in trouble. Dr. Bombay zaps in a psychedelic one-handed clock-looking contraption which Durwood questions. He is told it is an omni-directional three-dimensional vectoring cadmium shielded computer for location analysis. "A what," Durwood asks. The witch doctor begins again to repeat the unusual name only for Durwood to interrupt him by asking what it does. ("It's a witch hunter. It tells you which witch went which way.") When I first saw this scene many years ago I couldn't stop laughing at how crazy the name was and how Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay) could've remembered such an intricate name.

When I first submitted the idea to BearManor, I hadn't named the book yet and for some reason the witch hunter's name kept coming to mind. It then occured to me that my book was "omni-directional" in that I not only discussed Bewitched, but I also integrated world events that were happening at the time an episode aired. It was also "three-dimensional" considering it's a physical object; "vectoring" because of how I would tie in many points to one episode or idea; however, instead of "cadmium shielded" I realized my book was going to be "paper printed" and not so much a computer as an "omnibus"--a volume of works related in interest or theme--a very scientific sounding name like what Dr. Bombay would've used for his inventions; and not "for location analysis" but "for Bewitched analysis." It was perfect! Especially considering my online persona in the Bewitched fan community was Dr. Bombay.

Which brings me to the origin of the book...back in 2004 the show was coming up on it's 40th anniversary since the premiere and shockingly no media outlet was celebrating it, though shows like I Love Lucy and the Brady Bunch received TV specials and books, etc. I was a frequent contributor to the message board at HarpiesBizarre.com (named after a witch's magazine on the show) and so on September 17, 2004, the actual 40th anniversary date, I posted about how 40 years ago we would've turned into ABC-TV's newest show and been introduced to the beautiful witch Samantha, her mortal husband Darrin, and her indominable mother Endora. I decided to keep honoring the show each week after on the next episode's anniversary and so it went.

In 2005, to coincide with the release of the Bewitched movie, Sony released the First Season of the show on DVD and my good friend and huge Bewitched fan, Sharon, decided we should have Bewitched club which is very much like a book club but instead of reading we would be watching and discussing every episode. This was quite interesting as there were things about the episodes which I had never noticed that she may have or vice versa. As the 40 Years Ago posts continued I also decided it was interesting to note what would've been happening that evening as the show took place during a very active time in American history.

A couple years ago several of my readers asked if I had plans to print my posts in a book, which I had never thought of. I said I would look into it but I brushed it aside as it seemed a very far shot.

In the fall of 2010, X-Factor mentor and pop star Paula Abdul, whom I love more than I love Bewitched, encouraged us fans to set goals and go after our dreams, no matter how big. I decided that maybe publishing the book would be the way to go as my readers still kept inquiring about it and I have always wanted to have a book published just to have the thrill of seeing it on the book shelves. I began the process of collecting all my postings, and having to rewrite the first two seasons as I stupidly hadn't kept those. In January 2011 I decided to submit my idea to BearManor Media who focuses on old TV shows and movies and mainly radio stars. I was shocked beyond belief when Ben Ohmart, the president of the company, said it sounded interesting and he wanted to get feedback from an unknown Bewitched fan. Shortly thereafter he said we should go for it and so began the process of editing the huge manuscript.

Of course, regular life had to interrupt and so it took almost a year, but just last month I sent the finished manuscript to the type-setter and just signed the contracts tonight to send tomorrow.

I do not know a publication date as of yet, however, that's why I decided to start a blog about the book, to keep you all updated as to it's progress so you'll be the first to know.

I'm very excited about all this as it's a brand new experience! And it feels so good to be achieving a dream!