Reading, Editing, Publishing & book signings

Yes, in a way all of the things in my post title are related. Last week was very hectic for me. I visited two schools and spoke to over a thousand kids.

The first was a small Christian school but it was a fun, easy presentation. I talked about my writing and publishing journey and what I've accomplished, then I told them about my novel. Then I took questions and they kept me busy the next half-hour answering them.

I spent the next three days at Gainesville Middle School. That event had been a bit difficult to arrange at first because the media center informed me that most of their kids came from lower class and probably wouldn't have money to buy my book. But I spoke to over a thousand enthusiastic kids and had the opportunity to address the ESL (English as a Second Language) students. The ESL was a very different experience for me, but several of the kids bought books and one of them even did a rather accurate sketch of me in profile. It was very rewarding and, as it turned out, there were a majority of Christian teachers in the school (which gave me an amazing opportunity to speak more openly about the faith behind my stories). The school Librarian gave me this large basket of bottled water and snacks (which both my wife and I greatly appreciated!) and they also payed me for coming. Travel expenses have been rough, so that was a great blessing.

On Friday I signed at a Borders and did very well...sold just about every copy of my book that they had. Saturday I had a rather quiet signing in a nice, but slow, mall. But two separate people came in just to see me. One was a young girl and her family. They said they'd looked up my info online and were so enthused they decided to meet me at my next event! The other person was a teacher who also works in the bookstore. She wasn't working but came in to see me because she was loving my book and wanted to buy four additional copies for her students! Then, as she left, she bought me a book to read by a GA author. No one had ever done that and I've actually been enjoying the novel she bought me: The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry; it's a thriller (not for younger readers).

Sunday proved to be a short drive, 12 minutes down the road to a Borders. They only had a few copies of my book in stock. But, as it turned out, a fan was already waiting for me. Some of my books had sold off the shelf and I talked to this fan for a good long while. It is rewarding to hear people praise my writing and share how much they are enjoying reading my creations. I sold out that store and sold another 15-books in addition...which the store now owes me for (-:

These past couple days have been refreshing; no events. I finished looking over the edits for "Kestrel's Midnight Song", got in a little reading time, and perused blogs to search out new followers for my own. Artist Dion Williams is beginning work on the color version of the "Offspring" image... I still can't get over what an awesome job he did with it. It is absolutely perfect!

My mind keeps going over the story in my third novel. I knew that once I finished writing my second one my mind would start hammering for me to finish "The Key of Living Fire" ...well, it is. I guess I'll just have to find the time to write it. At least I'll be ahead of the game; when I sign the 3-book-contract with AMG the books will be all but finished!