Every tattoo tells a story (Continued)

Almost three years ago, I had a chain and cross tattooed around my neck.  I was inspired by an old cross I once had which had become worn over time, but it was my niece's baptism that put it into motion.  One of my pet peeves is seeing people with crosses made of gold and diamonds around their neck.  The cross, or crucifix, was a method of execution two thousand years ago.  I'm rarely caught entering a church, but I do know that Christ was not all about the bling.  About ten years ago, I bought a cross made of leather and pear wood.  It was simple and plain.  My son use to chew on it when I held him, as a baby.  I could think of nothing better than to have it tattooed around my neck once it had become broken beyond compare.

It was almost 100' F, on a sunny July morning.  I was a walk-in and was lucky enough to be seated right away.  It lead to some very interesting conversation.  Other Christians wonder why I don't go to church.  Atheist's wonder why I even bother.  I'm not hear to change anyone's mind, but I wear my tattoo proudly and never mention a word of it to anyone curious enough to ask.  "It's between me and God", I'd generally be caught saying.

My tattoo is finally finished.  Mike Bee (from Bound for Glory) put in the final touches and added color.  It's amazing!

I think this would be a good marketing tool for selling my book mainly because, I'm not the type of guy who likes to bring up the fact that I'm an author in regular conversation.  I feel very awkward even trying to say nice things about myself, so my "Elevator Pitch" has always been lacking.  I've spent the entire 30 seconds stammering before ever saying anything about my book.  My logic (which may be way off) is that people always comment on tattoos.  Another fact of life (like it or not), is that people do judge a book by it's cover.  I'm thinking that if they like the tattoo, then they'll like the book cover.  At that point, the awkwardness may be alleviated and I'll just be able to tell them that the book is a Sci-Fi\Fantasy that reads like a movie script.  It's a story about a magical fantasy planet in which wizard's dominance is about to fall to the high-tech might of cyborgs and robots.  Who knows?  Maybe they'll even buy it?