I have been enamored of the word “refreshments” for as long as I can remember. I believe the only reason I joined the Brownies is because I was told there would be refreshments at every meeting. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that at an upcoming appearance I’ll be doing there will be refreshments.
On Thursday, August 8th at 1 o’clock, I will be at the Oswego (Illinois) Public library. The address is 32 W. Jefferson. This event started out to be a bookclub discussion of my novel THE YEAR OF PLEASURES, which, by the way, is one of my favorite of my own books. But we will be talking about other things now too, determined by questions from the audience, which has been opened up to the public. It’s a free event, and I will bring along a variety of paperback and hardback books and CDs to be sold, ($10 for hardback and CDs, $5 for paperbacks, cash only, please, as the library does not have a way to accept credit cards.) I will also be giving away a surprise gift, which I have not yet decided upon. I thought about a dachshund puppy, but that’s probably not a good idea.
When I published my first book 10,000 years ago, my editor told me that she would be sending me on a little tour. I had been to many author readings, but I had never done one, and the prospect of my standing behind the lectern was thrilling. Also terrifying. When I did one of my very first readings, I went to the area where I would be speaking, where there were some chairs set up, and noticed there were two people sitting there. I spoke in a low voice, letting them know that I would be doing a reading there soon, so they might want to move. They said, “We’re HERE for your reading!” “Oh!” I said, immensely pleased. You can see that my level of confidence was not exactly high. After a little while, more people came, and eventually, I had quite a nice-sized audience. However, you never know how a signing is going to go. At one signing I went to do, no one came. Just when the embarrassed booksellers and I were going out the door to go to a compensatory dinner, one person showed up, and we invited her to come along with us for dinner. I have also had crowds who barely fit in a big bookstore, and who were required to sit on the floor, and I was required to step over them to get to the lectern. Sometimes you get a good crowd, sometimes you don’t. I want to tell you a story about another writer friend of mine and what happened at one of her signings.
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