Deirdre may have started writing the story of Dear Heart on September 10th, but everything of significance happens in the book on two key dates: September 25th and December 24th. So, as the 25th loomed large in front of me, I started wracking my brain for something unique to commemorate that date. Last week, it finally came to me! I'd tell the entire story of Dear Heart in a series of 240-character Facebook posts and Twitter tweets, one a week for the fourteen weeks between September 25th and December 24th. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.

Coming up with the 240-character teasers was the easy part, since I can practically recite the book from memory. The hard part was finding the perfect photos to accompany the teasers. Since a few weeks ago I got the bright idea to combine a picture with the cover art on one photograph, all of the photos I took with the book covers in them wouldn't work, and the thought of having to re-stage all of those vignettes made me want plunge a dagger into my eye. So I did what I always do in situations like that: I threw money at it and purchased most of the photos I needed on Shutterstock.Com. What could be easier, right? Climbing the Matterhorn for one thing. And here's why.

First you have to find the exact right photo. Then you have to crop it 15 different ways to make sure you're going to end up with what you want. Then you have to license it, buy it, download it, extract it, combine it with the cover art and print that off so you can scan it, save it and then resize it so it will fit on social media platforms. That part of the project took 8 days.

Then you have to match the teasers to the photos and then, because you're an overachiever, you have to spend some time on YOU TUBE to find appropriate songs to accompany the posts. With only two days left before D-day, I'm just starting that part of the project. But I'm closing in on it, which is why this blog is going to be short and sweet.

So, check your Facebook feed on the 25th and on every Tuesday thereafter until December 24th, and watch the story of Deirdre and Lee come to life on the tiny screen. I hope you love it as much as I do because absolutely nothing got done around here for the last two weeks, and I'd hate to think that I left all of those dirty dishes in the sink and didn't bother vacuuming up all of Sam's hairballs for nothing.