First up, I guest blogged today at Fresh Fiction so please head on over to take a look and maybe ask a question/leave a comment. I talk about some behind the scenes stuff for In the Midnight Hour.
Okay, now I'm sure you're all anxiously waiting for the report on how Saturday went. The workshop was tremendous! I picked up some good information, got a reminder about things I used to do but stopped doing, and had some things I still do reaffirmed. Eric Maisel is a creativity coach and now I understand why so many writers have been raving about him. Great workshop and if you have an opportunity to attend one of his presentations, I say go!
In addition to the great information, Eric made us write--five times. First for five minutes, then for ten and fifteen. The last time got a little long, but by then I was tired, it was after lunch and the book signing was looming. But I got more work done on my story arc on Saturday and those short writing stints than I managed all of last week, so big yea!
At the hotel, our workshop ended up next door to some really loud and large group that had the other three sections of the ballroom for their event. We heard music and the murmur of hundreds of conversations. I wondered if it was some kind of dating thing or something, but apparently not. Their social hour ended and then it got really loud. I have no clue what this group was and their signage didn't say enough to help me, but I am curious because it was just so different. Fortunately, our organizers got us moved into another room after lunch and we were able to have a lot more quiet.
Now for the part I'm sure you're all dying to hear about--the book signing. The night before, I'd printed out the scene I was going to read, rehearsed it, discovered it was far too long, cut it to a good starting point, rehearsed it again, discovered it was still too long, trimmed out a sentence here and a paragraph there, and got it down to just over five minutes. Then I really practiced. I even did voices for my characters--nothing too out there, but like the professional readers do for audio books. I was prepared, but dreading every minute.
So the workshop ended, I drove over to the Evil Day Job to change clothes and do my makeup (the hotel bathroom was way too small and far too busy), then went over to the Mall of America. I managed to find a parking spot near Macy's (We were signing in the Macy's Court), but I was supposed to meet my group at Barnes & Noble and that store was on the exact opposite side of the mall.
I don't know if any of you have been to the Mall of America (MOA), but that place is huge! For a moment, I considered staying at the Macy's Court, but then I thought, well, what if they're doing something at the bookstore that we need to know ahead of time? Or taking a head count before carting books all the way over? So I hied it across the vast expanse of retail establishments only to discover our group was gone. Back to Macy's Court. In new shoes. Gah!
Memorable moments: All I saw was my backlist being unpacked and I was afraid that In the Midnight Hour hadn't been ordered. They found it, though, in another stack of boxes. My name sign had my name spelled Pati, and of course, I got a little crap about that. Last year I signed one book, this year I signed a lot more than that, but I still ended up with a lot of books to sign for stock. The BN guy was really sweet (and optimistic) and ordered a lot of books. I had four titles there, including the Crimson anthology.
But you want to know how the reading went, don't you? Ha! I pleaded to go last, hoping they'd run out of time and I wouldn't have to do it at all, but another author had already claimed last place. I argued that we should do it on a shyness scale and I'm a 10, so I should go last. I got settled in at my position, pens and bookmarks ready, and then word came--we weren't going to read after all! Yea!
All in all, it ended up being a good day, albeit a long one.
