Book Release Party in the Bay

That's me in action. Note the liquid courage on the table next to me.

For those of you who don't know, the majority of my in-laws make their homes in Northern California.  So when I started planning book release parties in places where I actually knew people, the Bay area seemed like a good place to start.

The event itself was a great success.  Aside from selling a fair number of books, I also got some wonderful feedback from a lot of different people, absolutely none of whom are in the book.

It was a little strange, signing my name so much, and I'll admit that, after two straight weekends of such events, I've started using a go-to comment for a lot of books.  It's surprisingly hard to be witty or insightful when signing a book.

These book release parties have been a nice way to ease into this new chapter in the publishing adventure.  So far, I've mostly interacted with people I already know or people who are only a degree or two away from me.  I have common ground with most of them, so it's easier for me to engage.

The real challenge will be when I start doing this type of thing in front of complete strangers, many of whom will probably have no idea who I am, and of the few who do, some of them will no doubt think I'm a horrible writer.

Baby steps.

I'll post some bits and pieces from my trip to Kent, Ohio in the next blog entry.  That's where my side of the family lives, not to mention where I grew up.  That was actually even more of an event, as I had my first signing, another release party, and my first reading (which didn't go as you would think).  It was all "Pray," all the time!

The plan now is to head out and conquer Southern California at some point during the summer.  Living in Los Angeles means there's no shortage of book stores around here; I'm also only a few hours away from San Diego...and, now that I think about it, I have a brother-in-law-in-law (my brother's wife's brother) who just moved thee, so there's my in!

If you attended the Danville release party (and I would be willing to bet that a fair few of you reading this did), thank you.  I couldn't have done this without you.  The fact that so many of you were willing to travel so far just to celebrate the release of this book was incredible.

Writing is a solitary act, at least the writing I do is.  I spend hours and hours in a room alone and it's easy to forget that there are others behind you.  It's easy to forget that, in the end, you're not writing in a vacuum.  Regardless of who reads the work, there are going to be people who support you.  I think it's essential for anyone to succeed.  I'm not saying everyone needs a large group of people cheering them on, but even a single person offering some kind of support means a lot.

I know how lucky I am.

And hopefully  this will give me strength when the audience isn't quite as friendly!

This was my "thank you" speech. I'm not sure I really did the moment justice.