Book Signing for Flights of Fiction - Okay, It Was Fun

Well, I made it through my (our) first book signing. And, yes, it was fun.

Our host bookstore put us in a lovely reading room with chairs and low tables all around, a very comfortable setting.  We had a nice assortment of refreshments (which added to the comfort level) and a beautiful cake.

Although, if you look closely at the top, you can see the cake had slipped slightly off its foundation due to a quick stop on the way from the bakery. 

We did the traditional cake cutting with all the participating authors. You'll notice they only trusted us with small plastic knives. 

The readings went well. Each author read about a page from their story. I didn't flub up too much on mine.

Then came the signing part. Since there weren't a lot of large tables, several of us simply signed at the low table near where we were seated (we were scattered through the room, among the guests).  Those with books to be signed just followed a line that wove through the room past each author. It was a little awkward but worked well enough.

  

For a little while, things were sort of a blur. People handed me books and I signed them. I even remembered to sign my pen name instead of my real one.

Things finally slowed down when the bookstore ran out of copies to sell.  How's that for a book signing problem? 

Was it perfect? Not quite. I wish the signing part had been slower so I could have really thanked everyone who bought a book. I wish I'd had more time to talk to people who came to support me. And I feel bad because there were a couple good friends who deserved very special "signings" and in the rush, I couldn't think of the right words.

But all in all, it was a really good night.

My thanks to the Western Ohio Writers Association - especially Gery Deer, who organized this event - for being such a great group to work with and learn from.

So...how was your weekend?

Joke of the Day: The nuns at a small convent were happy to learn that an annonymous donor had left his modest estate to them. Each nun was given $50 in cash to give away as she saw fit.  

Sister Catherine Ann decided to give her share to the first poor person she saw.  She looked out the window and saw a man leaning against the telephone pole across the street, and he looked very poor indeed. 

She immediately left the convent and walked toward the man. He had obviously known better days. The good nun felt he had been sent by Heaven to receive her offering.  

She pressed the $50 into the man's hands and said, "Godspeed, my good man."  

As she left, the man called out to her, "What is your name?"  

Shyly, she replied, "Sister Catherine Ann."  

The following evening, the man returned to the convent and rang the bell. "I'd like to see Sister Catherine Ann," he said.   

The nun at the door answered, "I'm sorry, but I cannot disturb her right now. She's in the chapel. May I give her a message?"   

 "Yes," said the man gleefully. "Give her this $100 and tell her Godspeed came in second at Churchill Downs."