What a weekend at the Bliss Barn Christmas Market! From 18 mph winds that tore down tents, to meeting an Elvis Impersonator, to ice sculpting, to wagon rides, to Santa Tom, to the best vendor neighbors in the history of vendor neighbors, to being educated that Fairmount Indiana is the home of James Dean, and to of course, selling books! It was an Indiana weekend to remember! First I'd like to send out a BIG thanks to the organizers of the Bliss Barn Market. This was the fi

Well check this out -- my hometown paper just ran this fantastic article about the Off the Hook story book and screenplay. Here's part of it: "Wilmington High School 1994 graduate John Arvai III recently received his eighth national award/recognition for his book, Off the Hook: A Christmas Ornament Adventure, which he based on his award-winning screenplay by the same name. This fanciful adventure follows two groups of ornaments from opposite sides of their tree who find they

WOW -- I just gotta say the great folks over at the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church Arts & Crafts Show sure know how to support a Christmas story book! In one day you all nearly matched my sales from two days at the Grove City Show -- and those sales were really good! I can't thank you all enough for your support and we had a blast chatting with you all! I'd also like to send out a special thanks to my in-laws Pat and Ken for arranging this one and to Helen for all the p

I have a couple of new events to announce that just came together in the past few days! First up is the Pickerington Village Holiday Gathering located in Pickerington Ohio. This event is FREE and takes place on Friday, December 1st from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It will feature a whole lotta Christmas fun like tree lightings, ice sculpting, wagon rides, strolling carolers, Santa, and much much more! The Off The Hook table will be in the loft above the Combustion Brewing and Ta

I want to take a moment to thank all the great people at the Grove City Fall Craft & Gift Bazaar for a terrific event! We were a late add and were very impressed with the organization of the bazaar and the turnout! I'd especially like to thank all of the folks who bought a copy of Off the Hook as well as those who bought character ornaments inspired by the book! I loved chatting with you all and hope you enjoy it! If you ever need anything please feel free to shoot me an

For those in the area the Off The Hook table will be the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chillicothe Ohio on November 18th from 9 am to 3 pm. I'd like to thank the Calvary church for running the above add in the Chillicothe Gazette promoting the Off the Hook book signing at their event! I'd also like to thank my in-laws, Ken and Pat, for setting this all up! Very cool and can't wait to be there! John

Some more good news to share on the Off The Hook screenplay: "Dear John, We’re writing to let you know that your script Off the Hook has been selected as one of our Top 100 Screenplays in this year’s $25,000 Feature/Pilot Competition. Congratulations! The number of entries received in the 2017 competition was the largesst in Emerging Screenwriter’s history, with your script rising to the top of 2000 other screen- and teleplays. You can find the list that includes your work at