What I’ll
say next might surprise some people, but by nature, I am in introvert person. I
don’t like crowds and I’m not comfortable speaking in public. When my publisher
suggested I do a book signing for Voted Out at the local bookstore, I said, “Sure.
Sounds like fun.” But deep down, I was scared. So I met with the
manager, a wonderful lady named Jackie, a few months ago, and the first thing
we did was to select a date. We picked last weekend Saturday March 24th—as
you can see I survived.
She ordered
my books, which arrived in time for the signing, and told me she might be able to
arrange for an interview with the local newspaper and radio station. Again, I
said, “Sure. Sounds like fun.” But deep down, I wasn’t just scared, I was now
scared out of my wits. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...they
can go south in a heartbeat. An emergence arose for which I had to fly south on
March 12th and I wasn’t scheduled to fly back home until March 23rd
around suppertime. Then my returning flight was cancelled and I was re-booked on
a later flight arriving at 11pm on the 23rd amid the forecast of a
snowstorm. The interviews never happened, but now I was terrified of missing my
own book signing. Talk about irony!
Before I left,
I had dropped posters at the bookstore so they could advertise the signing, and
while I was gone I took care of some details. I had my nails done in
romantic-murder-mystery theme, I got a sticky nametag with my name &
logo, and I bought chocolate eggs for treats. I took all of these to the store
along with business cards and novelty pens (pink, purple, and blue).
During the signing I was told
it might help if I mingle with the customers, so lots of...Hello. How are you? What are you looking for? What do you like to read?
Well, unless I was standing near my table, my nice nametag with my author name
on it was mistaken for an employee tag. I received lots of requests
for books and authors I had never heard of, but it also allowed me to suggest
my book on a few occasions, and when I added I would also gladly sign it for
them, they stared at me with a 'deer in headlights' look before asking, “You’re the
author?” Then we would chat about everything, including my hair. Actually, many
encounters started with a comment about my purple and blue hair. One lady even
asked me to sign her book with the three pens so it would look like my hair. I
wrote a lovely thank you for coming and
nice chatting with you note inside her book, and each word was written in a
different color. I regret not taking a picture...
90% of the people
I met that day were strangers and I had an amazing time interacting with them.
I was uncomfortable at first, but it got easier as the day when by. Some people came to chat
without buying anything, some came to buy without chatting, and some came to chat and
buy something. I was delighted to talk to all of them and I want to thank them all for
coming and taking a few minutes to brighten my day. It was so interesting and I had so much fun that I
now wonder why on earth I was so scared.
See you
next time!
JS
Note: I
would also like to thank Jackie, Sarah, and all the staff at Coles in Fort
McMurray for hosting my book signing. I couldn’t have done it without you!
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