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chickwriterSo, Saturday - I had a book signing in Fredericksburg, VA - about 45 miles from where I live.
Not too bad - book signing is at 2:00. I figure I can leave by 12:30 and get there in plenty of time. Not so much.
Even though I'd been warned about I95 South traffic, (and I allowed myself extra time on top of the extra time) - I was still a half hour late. 95 was bumper-to-bumper for the majority of the trip. A 50 minute trip took more than 2 hours. YUCK!
That said, the bookstore made up for it. Although I wasn't doing a reading/signing, but just a signing (where they put a table out in the middle of the store) - I still did pretty well.
One of Charlaine's fans came specifically to meet me, because he'd seen her blurb on my book cover (Thanks, Charlaine!!). Several other stopped to chat, including an adorable 16 year old boy, who writes every chance he gets and wanted to talk about writing. He bought a book, too. :)
Most of the folks that came up to me were guys, and every single one of them bought a book. A few folks were from Texas (a LOT of us in this area, it seems!) I thoroughly enjoyed the signing. The store was incredibly busy - long lines of people buying books; entire *families* in the store, buying, reading, browsing. Chris, the manager, told me that their store was one of the top stores in the region.
I guess folks in and around Fredericksburg, VA read. Yay for them!
The trip back was uneventful, except I made a mistake and took the open HOV lanes - mistake because there is no exit for me, so I took an earlier one (after I realized that) and got lost in Springfield. Thanks to my GPS and a Rite Aid store manager, I blundered my way back to 395. ::g::
When I got home, I found a lovely fan email, which is something that always brings me great joy. I *love* hearing that someone read my book and fell in love with my characters. I'm totally in love with them, so I'm glad that other people are, too. Best author perk, EVER!!
Sunday was utterly a day of rest. I woke up early, watched a movie (Catch & Release) then promptly fell asleep on the recliner, only to wake when a thunderstorm hit. It was so dreary out, I spent a great deal of the day napping.
The nifty news portion of this post:
My wonderful cousin, Jeff Mariotte, was awarded two Scribe awards this weekend at ComicCon.
• Speculative Fiction, Best Novel Original—30 Days of Night: Rumors of
the Undead by Stephen Niles and Jeff Mariotte
• Best Novel Original—Las Vegas: High Stakes by Jeff Mariotte
The awards are given by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Jeff is a brilliant writer and utterly deserves this recognition. So YAY, Cousin Jeff!!!
Not too bad - book signing is at 2:00. I figure I can leave by 12:30 and get there in plenty of time. Not so much.
Even though I'd been warned about I95 South traffic, (and I allowed myself extra time on top of the extra time) - I was still a half hour late. 95 was bumper-to-bumper for the majority of the trip. A 50 minute trip took more than 2 hours. YUCK!
That said, the bookstore made up for it. Although I wasn't doing a reading/signing, but just a signing (where they put a table out in the middle of the store) - I still did pretty well.
One of Charlaine's fans came specifically to meet me, because he'd seen her blurb on my book cover (Thanks, Charlaine!!). Several other stopped to chat, including an adorable 16 year old boy, who writes every chance he gets and wanted to talk about writing. He bought a book, too. :)
Most of the folks that came up to me were guys, and every single one of them bought a book. A few folks were from Texas (a LOT of us in this area, it seems!) I thoroughly enjoyed the signing. The store was incredibly busy - long lines of people buying books; entire *families* in the store, buying, reading, browsing. Chris, the manager, told me that their store was one of the top stores in the region.
I guess folks in and around Fredericksburg, VA read. Yay for them!
The trip back was uneventful, except I made a mistake and took the open HOV lanes - mistake because there is no exit for me, so I took an earlier one (after I realized that) and got lost in Springfield. Thanks to my GPS and a Rite Aid store manager, I blundered my way back to 395. ::g::
When I got home, I found a lovely fan email, which is something that always brings me great joy. I *love* hearing that someone read my book and fell in love with my characters. I'm totally in love with them, so I'm glad that other people are, too. Best author perk, EVER!!
Sunday was utterly a day of rest. I woke up early, watched a movie (Catch & Release) then promptly fell asleep on the recliner, only to wake when a thunderstorm hit. It was so dreary out, I spent a great deal of the day napping.
The nifty news portion of this post:
My wonderful cousin, Jeff Mariotte, was awarded two Scribe awards this weekend at ComicCon.
• Speculative Fiction, Best Novel Original—30 Days of Night: Rumors of
the Undead by Stephen Niles and Jeff Mariotte
• Best Novel Original—Las Vegas: High Stakes by Jeff Mariotte
The awards are given by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Jeff is a brilliant writer and utterly deserves this recognition. So YAY, Cousin Jeff!!!
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Date: 2007-07-30 10:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-30 11:02 pm (UTC)