“Since 1932,” Wikipedia tells us, “Black Friday has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales.”
As early as 1961, the phrase Black Friday has applied to shopping craze that occurs the day after Thanksgiving. In that year it was used in Philadelphia to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.
“More than twenty years later,” Wiki reports, “as the phrase became more widespread, a popular explanation became that this day represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being ‘in the red’ to being ‘in the black.’”
Because today is Black Friday, I thought it might be fun to compile a list of my top three Black Friday Finds for the writers in your life (or to leave in a prominent place in your own home, hint hint).
An Emergency Cache Box—Unlike a traditional safe, this treasure box isn’t designed to hold filthy lucre (you are writers, after all). Instead it contains a cache of ideas for when the gloomy greys of winter steal the color from your writing. This amazing box is stuffed full of clever turns of phrase, mighty metaphors, and winsome word plays. Guaranteed to jumpstart any writing project, this treasure trove promises to boost you over the steepest writing hurdle and set you gently down on flowery beds of writing ease.
A Bottomless Toner Cartridge—A 900-page manuscript? No problem. The fifteenth revision? Bring it on. With this potent powder powerhouse, you’ll never worry about running out of ink on the last page of your proposal or at midnight the day of your deadline. Best of all, this amazing cartridge is equipped with a SmartSensor that not only alerts you when your toner supply is getting low, but orders its own replacement from Amazon and bills it to your PayPal account.
Desk Chair with Built-in Massage Points—Perfect for those late-night writing sessions or days when your plot is plodding instead of pleasing, this stylish desk chair eases into action at the first sign of tension. As soon as it senses a cramp, hundreds of tiny fingers begin to knead the knots away. Gentle heat accompanies the soothing action, targeting your lower back, shoulders, and neck. A built-in Sleep Alert Sensor halts the action before its relaxing therapy can negatively impact your writing productivity.
So there you have it, Lori’s Top Three Black Friday Finds for the writers in your life. As you’re out and about hunting bargains today, keep your eyes peeled for these treasures. Leave a comment below if you find one of these deals at a price you can’t resist, and if you come across other wonders for the wordsmiths in your life, don’t keep the treasures to yourself.
Happy hunting!
TWEETABLE
Top3 Black Friday Finds for the Writer in Your Life - @LoriHatcher2 (Click to Tweet)
Lori, great ideas. The first item provides a great answer for the question we all get: "Where do you get your ideas?" I'll leave the list in a prominent place and await the appropriate package under the tree.
ReplyDeleteI do hope Santa works his magic and you find these gifts under your tree this year, Richard. Merry Christmas!
DeleteI need all three.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Ingmar. Hopefully Santa will be generous this year ;)
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