Preparing for a Book Signing

It's been awhile since I've had a traditional book signing, or at least a signing where selling books is the only focus of the event I'm attending, and I have one coming up during Mountaineer week at WVU. I'm nervous and excited about it. Since a craft fair is also going on at the same time, and my mysteries have a crafting component, I decided I wanted to spruce up my table decor.

For a table cover, I usually use a piece of fabric that matches the theme of the newest book. Most of my crafting projects lately had been vinyling t-shirts and other items, so I decided to "upgrade" by decorating a fitted tablecloth with my book cover images, my name, and a slogan.

I bought some fabric transfer sheets (Avery brand) and printed my mystery covers on them using the ink jet printer. The colors were a little muted, but not sure if it's because of the program used to convert the image, the DPI resolution, or my printer ink is running out. (I have a feeling it might be the last as I've been doing a lot of color printing.)

Following the directions on the packaging, I pressed the image onto the fabric using the half-sheet recommendation. I lifted up a portion and noticed the image didn't completely transfer. I placed it back down but it had shifted and the image smudged. Fortunately, I only need one side of the tablecloth visible so I flipped it over and started again.

This time, I used the time for a full sheet transfer image...and added thirty more seconds to be sure. The image came out good...the top more clean than the bottom which had more details. I think part of the issue is the material the tablecloth was made from. My plan is to buy another one that has a higher cotton content and make a new one. I'm redoing my inspirational series and would like to add the covers onto the other side, in case I ever have both sides of the tablecloth visible.

 


And, as a follow-up to last week's blog entry, I wanted to share that I have put the first book of my inspirational romantic series up on Kindle. Lost Then Found is currently only available as an ebook on Amazon and is in the Kindle Unlimited program.

 

What Does This Have To Do With Dogs?

Please join me in welcoming guest author Terry Shames to Killer Hobbies today.  In answer to her title question...Doesn't EVERYTHING have to do with dogs?  Read on about dogs, mysteries, and book signings.  Take it away, Terry!

When I was a fresh new author, I was invited to participate in the Tucson Festival of Books. Turns out that each year they include a couple of new authors in their roster and I won the brass ring. The festival was grand. There were great panels and I got to mingle with some of my writing idols.

When it came time to do a signing, I was actually nervous. I’m never nervous when I have to speak to people—the more the merrier. But signing books? In a place where I knew no one? Suppose no one bought my books. Suppose everyone ignored me?

I’m here to tell you that that’s exactly what happened. I felt like I had on a covering that rendered me invisible. I sat there, mute and humiliated.

The man next to me wrote books about a crime-solving dog, and people couldn’t get enough of them. The proverbial hotcake sales comes to mind. So I started thinking that I might want to consider starting a second series about a crime-solving dog.

It turned out I didn’t have to do that. Someone who had a bit more experience in hawking her books showed me what to do. Pretty soon I was, on her advice, calling out to passerby—“Do you like mysteries? Yes? Then let me tell you about mine.” I’m not saying I racked up the sales, but at least I got to talk to a few people and sold a few books—and I relaxed.

So what does this have to do with dogs? I never forgot the man with the dog books and my thought about a crime-solving dog. So suddenly, in book four of my Samuel Craddock series, A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge, a dog appeared. It was a shivering, frightened terrier mix named Frazier that belonged to a potential love interest for my chief of police.  I didn’t know where the dog came from in my treasure trove of imaginary beings, but there it was, and there it stayed.

In the middle of writing book 5 for the last few months, I found myself including Frazier the dog again. He wormed his way into the book and set up shop. I’m not saying I’m ever going to have a crime-solving dog, and Samuel Craddock has a perfectly good cat that he likes—but when he was dog-sitting for Frazier, he liked having the dog hop in his truck and ride with him. So maybe Samuel has a dog in his future—if not of the crime-solving kind, at least a sidekick.

 

Terry Shames writes the best-selling Samuel Craddock series, published by Seventh Street Books. A Killing at Cotton Hill won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery of 2013 and was a finalist for Left Coast Crime’s Best Mystery of 2013 and Strand Magazine’s Critic’s Award for Best First Mystery. Library Journal named The Last Death of Jack Harbin one of the top five mysteries of 2014. Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek debuted October 2014. The fourth in the series, A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge, was released April 7, 2015. For more about Terry, see www.terryshames.com.

 

 

 

About A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge....

 

Samuel Craddock has accepted that his neighbor and friend Jenny Sandstone’s personal life is off-limits. But when her dying mother tells Craddock that Jenny is in danger, he confronts a dilemma. He wants to respect Jenny’s privacy, but he is haunted by the urgency in the dying woman’s voice. Then strange events begin to take place.

After Jenny is the victim of a near-fatal car accident, Craddock demands that she tell him what he needs to know to protect her. Forced to confront the past, Jenny starts drinking heavily and plunges into a downward spiral of rage and despair. Craddock must tread lightly as he tries to find out who is behind the threats to her. But only by getting to the bottom of the secrets buried in Jenny’s past can he hope to save her both from herself and from whoever is out to harm her.

Fun Events, Past, Present and Future!

It happens every time.  I wake up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, convinced that my nightmare will come true: that no one will show up for my book event.  Once again, you all proved me wrong. 

We had a GREAT event at Third Place Books last week to celebrate the launch of my series.  Over thirty-five people came, took a fun chair yoga class with Rene de los Santos, listened to me read some of fans’ favorite scenes, and asked questions about my path to publication.  There were even free chocolates, coffee mugs and gift cards.  For those of you who couldn’t join us, here are some photos of the fun!

 

Rene de los Santos warmed up the crowd with his smile, humor, and an energizing chair yoga class!

 

The audience asked several great questions about my writing process and path to publication.

 

I read a few of fans' favorite scenes from Murder Strikes a Pose

But the best part was getting to meet some fans for the very first time!

And now it’s time for me to take this show on the road.  My next four events will be out of town.  If you’re nearby or want a road trip of your own, please join me!

March:  Left Coast Crime, Monterrey, CA.  (March 20 – 23) I’ll be doing signings, discussing my book at the new author’s breakfast, and participating on the panel “The Sleuth’s Best Friend.”

April: Village Books, Bellingham, WA.  Sunday, April 13, 4:00 PM.  An afternoon of yoga, dogs and murder!  Local yoga teacher Abby Staten will join me to talk about her work with viniyoga, as well.

May:  Malice Domestic, Bethesda MD. (May 2 -4) I’ll be doing a singing, discussing my book at the new author’s breakfast, and participating on the panel “Taboo:  Author’s Who Tackle Difficult Subject Matter.” 

June: Jan’s Paperbacks, Portland, Oregon. Saturday, June 7, 1:00 – 4:00.  Joni Sauer Folger and I will be answering questions about our series and signing books.  We plan to make it a party!  Joni writes mysteries involving wine; I write about dogs and yoga.  Three of my favorite topics all wrapped up into one!

I hope to see some of you there, and thanks again for all of your continuing support!

Tracy

Check out Tracy Weber's author page for information about the Downward Dog Mysteries series.  MURDER STRIKES A POSE is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Whole Life Yoga, and bookstores everywhere!

Mardi Gras, Watered Silk

Advance notice: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 pm, I will be at the Rum River Public Library in Anoka, MN, to give a talk and sell books.

Another: Saturday, March 24, from one to five: Bloomington Book Fair, at the Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington, MN. I’ll be sitting at a table with Carl Brookins, senior member of my writer’s group, and we’ll both have books for sale.

Today is Mardi Gras, AKA Shrove Tuesday, AKA Fat Tuesday. Lent Eve. In medieval times Lent was serious business. People gave up meat (and meat products like fat) altogether between Ash Wednesday and Easter, and did other penitential things, so today was the last day to have a blow out, and use up things you couldn't have for forty days. Lent is a season of reflection and regret but with a glorious promise at the end. Kind of sad, but typical, that we as a culture have kept the party but forgotten the reason for it. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Look for people with black smudges on their foreheads. I only found out recently that the ashes are made from last year’s palm branches. “Remember, Man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return,” a reminder of one's mortality. Serious business. End of sermon.

I’m starting to look at my next book, Watered Silk. Three mornings a week – early mornings, 6:30 am – I go to a place called Courage Center for water aerobics. They specialize in rehabilitating people with physical problems, whether from genetic problems, accident or illness. I have psoriatic arthritis and their heated Olympic-size pool is a Godsend. Standing shoulder-deep in the water I can do vigorous movements impossible on dry land. But I also write murder mysteries, and for some while I have nurtured an image of an instructor coming in very early in the morning, when all is still dark, turning on the high overhead lights, and finding a young woman's body floating in the deep end. Cool, right? Well, Courage Center doesn’t think so. They think a book about a murder set in a place where vulnerable people gather is a very bad idea. But the heroine of my series is well established as going to the Courage Center. So I’m going to invent a place not unlike the Courage Center and say the Courage Center has to close its pool for a couple of weeks to drain it and make repairs, and so the Early Birders have to find a temporary new location for aerobics. And it’s that fictional place that will startle an instructor turning on the lights. I have a friend who lives in Canada, who has a friend who likes to design buildings, and this friend of a friend and I are going to come up with a building that has a door with a broken lock . . .

I love my job.

You Name the Prize!

I think I have an idea for a contest. But first:

Yesterday was another appearance day for me, this time in Winona, at a charity affair, raising money for a hospital. There were three authors present. Two of us write mystery fiction, the third writes true crime books. Well . . . book. He’s only got one at present, about the Congdon murders, a very big deal in Minnesota. Over lunch – a slice of baked chicken over an Asian salad, carrot cake for dessert – each of us got to make a fifteen-minute presentation about our writing. The audience was appreciative to all of us, but I think I got off the best line: “As Fred Allen once said, ‘I don’t know why anyone would write a book when for a few dollars he could buy one.’” After lunch, the three of us moved to a long table and sold/signed our books. My hat got quite a few compliments.

There was a big crowd present, over a hundred. And while we didn’t sell a hundred books, we sold quite a few. So despite the long drive – about three hours each way for me – it was a worthwhile journey. I think we each made a few new fans.

Today I am off to buy some purple flowers and take them to the Science Museum of Minnesota where they will be turned into dye. I will use the experience in the book I am writing called, curiously enough, And Then You Dye. I understand the color of the plant material doesn’t always forecast the color of the dye, so this should be interesting. I’ll let you know next week.

I want to offer a contest next week. Win a free book. But which book? How about I leave it up to you? Let me know if you would prefer a copy of the first book in the Betsy Devonshire series, Crewel World, or a copy of the newest one, Buttons and Bones. Or would you like a copy of my first published novel, Murder at the War? Or a copy of the first in my Dame Frevisse mystery series, The Novice’s Tale? Or some other book? Let me know. Whichever gets the most votes is the one I’ll offer next week.

Book Signings

One of the more pleasant duties of being a published author is doing signings. It’s a time when I actually get to meet face to face with the people who are reading my books. It’s ego-boosting – which for someone engaged in an essentially lonely profession is marvelous – and sometimes useful, because I’ll get feedback about the direction I’m taking with my stories and/or characters. Even, once in a while, I’ll be offered a story idea or book title I can actually use. So I love to do book signings.

One of my favorites is an annual event, offered by a local mystery bookstore, Once Upon A Crime. Owners Pat and Gary call it Write of Spring, and this past Saturday was their ninth annual.

Minnesota is chock-a-block with authors, many of them mystery writers. No one seems sure why, but I think it has something to do with our long, dark winters. If you’re not a skier, a snowmobiler, or an ice fisherman, what else is there to do but write?

This year there were about fifty mystery authors in attendance at Write of Spring. We came in one-hour shifts, standing shoulder to shoulder behind a long table stacked with our books. The place was crowded with visitors, who munched on ginger cookies and lemonade while waiting to speak with a favorite author, buy a book or, in some cases, offer previously purchased books they brought along for autographs. At this point in my career, I have a long backlist, so I got to talk about not just my current Betsy Devonshire series, but also the Dame Frevisse medieval mystery series and even the Peter Brichter series I started with back in the 80s. One author who came in a little early for the second shift is dear friend Gail Frazer, with whom I collaborated on the Dame Frevisse series. Pat had a set of the six books we wrote together (Gail continued the series alone later) to be sent to a collector. She wanted us to autograph them, both with our mutual pseudonym and our “real name.”

That raised a question for me: What is my real name? That is, I have a legal name, the one I married into, but not many people know or use it. I have a “professional” name, my maiden name, the one I started writing under. And I have a current pseudonym, the one most of my readers know me by. I decided to go with the professional name.

One thing I noticed about the books, which began appearing in 1992 as paperback originals, is that the pages are already turning brown. Before too long, they will crumble. Now it has been my position that one problem with e-books is that, as the technology changes, the ones coming out now will be unreadable and volumes will be lost. But looking at the browning pages of Margaret Frazer’s books, I realized that time will render them unreadable, too. There’s something sad, even tragic, about that. Not that I write deathless prose, but there is value in even the common literature of a culture and its loss is real.

The Writing Life

Jess Lourey, Jan Dunlap and I made an appearance at the Normandale Community College in Bloomington (Minnesota) today. We sat at a table and rambled on about why we write mysteries, how we came up with our sleuths, the methods we use in plotting, and whether or not our characters resemble people we know. Attendance was a bit sparse -- community college students are more about books needed to pass courses than reading for recreation. Still, some good questions were asked, and each of us signed a few books. What I liked about the event was how we played off each other. One would say something that triggered a good thought in another. It was much better that there were three of us than if any of us had appeared alone. That doesn’t always happen, but it’s great when it does. I’d like to do something with the two of them again sometime.

One of the subjects was how writers today have to be two people. One is an introvert, able (sometimes driven) to work alone, with only a looming deadline for encouragement. The other is a gregarious and amusing extrovert, given to clever remarks and interesting conversation while on a book tour. Publishers today tend to focus on the big sellers and even mid-list authors are forced to arrange their own book tours, traveling on their own dime, getting no reimbursement except for a tax deduction. So it’s not just the appearance at a book signing the author has to do, it’s the scheduling, the cold calling of bookstore managers, the cheerful voice and cooperative manner put on when making arrangements. And when it’s all over, there is the lonesome room and the intimidating blank computer screen waiting.

But you know something? I wouldn’t trade my job for any other. I enjoy the book signings, meeting fellow authors and fans at conventions, even (sometimes) the challenge of setting up a signing. And when the muse is riding me, there’s nothing more fascinating than working out a complex plotline, watching the characters come to life on the computer screen, making it all come together in a grand climax.

Of all the activities involved in writing, I think I probably like research best. In fact, I have caught myself using research as a way to avoid writing. There is always one more thing to check out, one more fact to pursue, and the Internet seems too often a bottomless resource. I love talking to people face-to-face, I love getting into e-mail correspondence with experts in some field or other, I even love taking stitching classes. I guess somewhere in my ancestry is Rudyard Kipling’s elephant’s child, full of ’satiable curiosity. Of the several traits that make someone into a writer, I think curiosity is one of the elementals. How does that work? Why do people do that? What is it like to (fly, fire fires, do factory work, cope with an abusive boss or spouse, fill in the blank). We’re worse than the National Enquirer and National Geographic combined. If there are such things as ghosts, and they get to choose the places they haunt, I will be found at my old school, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, attending classes and reading obscure volumes in the stacks of the Union Memorial Library. Though the way books are going out of style, I may have to inhabit a computer -- do you think that might be possible?

BLACKWORK!

Yesterday, the sixth, was the official publication date for Blackwork, and I did a signing at a local Barnes and Noble – well, local in the sense that it was in Roseville, which is east of St. Paul, which is east of Minneapolis, which is east of St. Louis Park, the suburb I live in. For my birthday, which is this month, I received a GPS and I decided to try it out for directions to the bookstore. Fortunately, the thing is extremely easy to set up, and its directions were quite clear. If you take a different way, the woman’s somewhat mechanical voice says, "Recalculating," and swiftly figures a way to get you back on track. The turnout was good for a general bookstore, and they all laughed at the right places during my talk, and then asked good questions. One woman did ask me if I had aimed this book at the Wiccan market. Is there a Wiccan market? I said I didn’t have Wiccans in mind when I wrote the book, though two friends who practice Wicca did contribute to the plot. I said I needed an innocent suspect who some people could think used the black arts to commit murder. And I had this really cool way of killing someone that would work in a locked room and wouldn’t leave a mark . . .

Thinking of looking for a stocking stuffer? (Already? Yes, already!) The paperback version of Thai Die will premier on December 1. Also an "anthology" of the second trio of Betsy Devonshire novels (Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by a Thread) will appear under the title Sew Far, So Good. This is also a warning to those looking for a new Betsy Devonshire novel and who might think Sew Far, So Good is one – it isn’t, it’s a collection of three already-published novels. FYI, Patterns of Murder is a collection of the first three Betsy Devonshire mysteries.

Today Laura Childs and I are going to be interviewed at KFAI radio in a recording to be broadcast later – next week, I believe. Hope I don’t blow it.

This weekend I will be at a science fiction convention aimed at the GLBT community, called Gaylaxicon. The con is to be held at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park, my own neighborhood. I’m going to be on a panel, do a group signing, join a group that does crafting (bringing my knitting), and then sponsoring a beer tasting. Blackwork features a Wiccan character whose "herbal preparation" of choice is beer. I had no idea when I set out to write it that there were so many varieties of beer – or that they were so different from one another. From the light and delicate fruit flavored limbecs to the thick, dark and bitter stouts, there is a beer to suit the palate of everyone – even those who, like me, have never thought they were fond of beer. To prove it, I have asked Michael Agnew, professional beer expert, to select six or eight widely-different kinds of beer to present to a paying audience.

I played golf on Monday morning, a chill, gray day, that had a forecast for rain that came true in the afternoon. Had the course practically all to myself, which was great, as on the third hole, the longest and for some reason my most difficult hole, my game came completely to pieces, and I took a shot off the tee three times (a "do over" or "McGuffin" it’s called) before I decided to just go ahead and play it where it last landed, about a dozen yards up the fairway. I think it took me about twelve strokes on that par three hole – on the other holes I scored between five and seven. Pathetic, I know, but a five on a par three isn’t bad for me.

St. Michael and All Angels

I woke with what feels like a chest cold this morning, so I didn’t go to water aerobics, but instead slept in and so this is going to be late getting posted.
I apologise

Last night the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels was celebrated at our place. Michaelmas (in England pronounced "mikkelmus") is one of the Quarter Days, dividing the year into four parts. They are, I believe, Candlemas, Lammas, Michaelmas and Christmas. The "mas" is a shortened "mass," because these were holy days, celebrated with a mass in church – marking the quarter days is a very old (e.g., medieval) custom. In England the fall term at university is still called the michaelmas term. (The university itself is a medieval invention.)

It was a good party, if smaller than usual. We hadn’t seen some of the guests in a long time, so there was lots of catching up to do. And one pair came late – one of them is a teacher and fresh from an acrimonious parent-teacher meeting that had her in tears and threatening to quit teaching. We soothed her with kind words and leftover goose and soon she was smiling. Ann told a long, convoluted (possibly invented) Irish folk tale about Archangel Michael in disguise defending a young man against the angry ghost of his wicked mother. She’s a good story teller seeking to become a good short-story writer.

Today I am going to a local mystery bookstore to sign a stack of copies of Unraveled Sleeve, which is set at the Naniboujou Lodge up on the north shore of Minnesota. The lodge carries my books in its gift shop, an unexpected and very welcome effect of my setting the book there. They buy their copies from the bookstore, which offers them a discount for quantity purchases. Everyone wins in this instance!

Last week I went to play golf at my usual par-three, nine-hole course and found the place clogged with high-schoolers. Someone said I was probably ready for the big time, and that I should try playing the back nine of the regular course. Big mistake! For one thing, I set off unable to see in the distance the hole I was aiming for and with my weak drives it took me a very long time to get to the green. For another, I got lost. I didn’t think it possible, and I was very embarrassed about it, but I couldn’t find the tee for the twelfth hole. So I decided to quit and discovered golf courses aren’t meant for people just to walk on. Finally a man in a cart came by and gave me a ride back to the clubhouse where, on confessing my sad tale, they gave me a rain check for my beloved par-three. I’m going to try to get there today

The Kindness of Strangers

Just break a bottle of champagne over my forehead, will you?

Tonight (Monday evening) is the “official” launch for Cut, Crop & Die, the second book in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. I’ll be giving a presentation at 7 p.m. at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, near downtown St. Louis. We’ll be signing books and serving wine and cheese.

I’m debating on whether to read something out of my book—which I’ll probably do—or do a Blanche DuBois imitation, because that’s a bit more honest. You see, lately, I’ve really been dependent on the kindness of strangers.

It began last Wednesday afternoon, when Joe Fox, the 20-year-old son of our dear friends in Charleston SC drove into town. “Joseph, do you have a place to stay?” I asked.

“No, ma’am. I thought I’d just find a hotel,” he said.

“Okay, come over to our house. David and Michael are on the East Coast. We’ve got plenty of room,” I said. “But I might disappear after dinner because I’m heading for Dallas the next morning.”

After Joe and I had fantastic steaks at Andria’s in Chesterfield, it occurred to me that I had no way to get to the airport without my husband or son being in town. So I asked Joe if he could drop me off. I held my breath because despite being incredibly polite, Joe is, after all, not much more than a teenager. They HATE mornings. But the next a.m., he was up with the birds, pulling my big suitcase to his car before I knew it.

At the airline gate, I noticed a friend of mine, Marilyn, who works for Build-a-Bear. We started chatting and walking onto the plane. But my paper boarding pass didn’t go through. The plane was headed for Seattle and I was bound for Dallas-Fort Worth. Oops. I stepped to one side. Then a pilot who watched this said, “Uh, your plane is boarding RIGHT NOW, next gate over.”

I got to my hotel in Arlington TX with only a slight detour. My driver was new to this country, and he got a bit lost.

I was staring at all the six boxes of books I’d sent ahead when couple of nice ladies noticed me in the foyer. “We’re going over to the scrapbook show. Want a ride?” These sweeties actually helped me load books and drove me over. When my bag of trail mix—my lunch, breakfast and dinner—burst open in their car, they were very nice. They helped me make sure I didn’t have a big raisin glued to my butt.

At the show, Sally Slack, the event goddess, allowed me the perfect spot to set up: Right in front of the ladies’ johns and the food court. My table neighbors—Susie Rushing and her daughter Rebekah of GloverStamp.com—loaned me a BIG cart when they heard my dilemma. The next morning, a wonderful taxi driver helped me haul five boxes of books (weighing 40 lb each) and my teaching kits (50 lbs) into the convention center. I have no idea how Arlington TX thinks a convention center works because there are lots of stairs and little/no helpers.

At 8 a.m. on Friday, I taught my first class. We had oodles of fun.

I went back to my table and opened the five boxes of books, 36 per box. My pal Terri Thayer counseled me that she usually sells about 200 books at a convention. I sold 108 in 3 hours, by myself, processing both cash and credit card payments. I use a crayon to rub over the numbers. (It’s low tech but it works!)

Over the weekend, I sold 216 books in total. That's a photo of me and Pat Coates, one of the lovely scrappers I met. I taught 2 classes of 20 people each. I revisited some “old” pals from the scrapbook industry. I met some new friends. Folks who read Paper, Scissors, Death dropped by expressly to buy Cut, Crop & Die. The scrapbookers who bought PSD on Thursday started raving in classes and to their roommates, which drove more traffic to my table. Scrapbookers shared meals with me, reminisced with me, gave me rides, encouraged me, and cheered me on. There are no kinder people on earth.

Monday I’ll celebrate with my book-loving friends and family and author pals here in St. Louis. But the glow I'll wear comes directly from my weekend in Dallas.

Short Subjects

Yesterday I found out that I will need eye surgery on both my eyes. Fortunately, it is a fairly common surgery, with a fairly safe bet of sailing though it with no problems at all. I found out a couple of years ago that I have glaucoma in both eyes, but the eye drops I’ve been using are not bringing the pressure down enough to stop it from damaging my optic nerve. So they propose to cut tiny "trapdoors" in each eye to release liquid and ease the pressure. The surgery will take place on March 19 and April 2 and I will wear an eye patch for a few days after each procedure. Suitably ornamented with sequins, I assure you.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a season of repentance, reflection and renewal. I wonder how many people caught up in the wildness of Mardi Gras understand it used to be a last hurrah before the stern period of Lent? I consider myself a Christian, but I’m not going to throw myself into all the stern ways of marking Lent – heck not even half of them. But then I didn’t get to go to Mardi Gras, either. :)

I want to take a long train trip early in the summer of 2010, from Minneapolis to Seattle, then down along the coast, then east to Salt Lake City, where I’ll be the speaker at a an Embroiderers’ Guild of America Convention. If anyone out there knows how to go about organizing such a trip – I’d like to stop along the way and do book signings and also take a couple of days to explore Yellowstone – please contact me. Thank you.

Selling Books, Researching Beer

Appearances and book signings are two major ways an author can improve sales. An "appearance" (these are my definitions) means giving a talk, answering questions, and, if some people in the audience brought along one of my books, signing it. I now have a speaker’s fee: $200. Sometimes I have to travel far enough to where the appearance is that expenses eat up most or all of the fee. And that’s all right, if the audience is large and happy to see me, because I make it up again in royalties.

At a signing, I’m there to sell books – or, anyway, to help a bookseller sell books. These generally happy in bookstores, but not always. I’ve done signings at quilt shows, conventions and in needlework shops.

I always dress up for these occasions, including a hat. I have a large collection of hats and delight in wearing them. They are becoming my "signature," which is wonderful. But also, dressing up makes it more of an occasion, it shows respect for the people who invited me.

I have found the most delightful store just a few blocks from where I live. It’s called The Four Firkins (a "firkin" is about nine gallons, or a small barrel that holds about nine gallons), and the proprietor sells beer, ale and wine in bewildering variety. As I probe deeper into the esoteric world of beer brewing, I am hearing about such things as gruit and barley wine. Without having to make it myself, I would very much like to taste these exotic varieties. And Proprietor Jason Alvey has them. Not just one or two, but large, broad shelves of them. Now, if you’re looking for a twelve-pack of Budweiser, you won’t find it at The Four Firkins. But if you want a Belgian saison, he has four or five brands. Also a large number of Anchor Beers – Anchor, of San Francisco, was one of the first microbreweries. And ales made without hops (one I bought was made with heather, another with juniper needles). He’s currently out of nettle beer – a very ancient kind – but will have it later. He has beer from several of the twelve remaining Trappist monasteries in Europe, whose recipes date to the dark ages. He has a German beer made from smoked (rather than roasted) barley. He has wheat beers. He has beers flavored with anise, coriander, and orange peel.

He knows the history of beer, he’s done some home brewing, he knows an enormous amount about what makes a good beer and a great beer and a stupid beer. I have signed up for his newsletter.

It’s so interesting, it’s enough to make me try harder to appreciate the taste of beer, maybe even to find a beer whose taste I really like. I hope I still have a working liver by the time I finished with Blackwork.