Book Signing on the 3rd

My first Austin book signing went great considering it was the same time as the big UT game. We sold around a dozen (approx 52% of customers in the store at the time!). The kids really liked the storytime reading. I read in my comentary-type way ("oooh... do you think he's going to listen to monkey? hmmm?" that kinda thing). Afterwards I did something fun, I had 4 big sheets of white paper taped up on the wall and I told the kids to shout out who I'm drawing from the story. They won a lifesaver for guess. Then we colored and I handed out fortune cookies which I also had at my signing table up at the front of the store.

Several of my regulars came and got one, as well as the walk by's (they walk by and take 3 steps and stop with that "What was that?!" expression and come back and pick it up). A really nice Chinese lady and I had a chat about the book and she bought one for herself. That was a neat opportunity to talk to someone from China about it. She was a Budhist and is now a Christian and she really liked how the message of "do unto others" is present in the book. She at first thought the rabbit and the dragon were going to do a David and Goliath, and I had to explain how little bunny foo foo was an American nursery tale that I placed in China. Rabbits and dragons are big over there, too, she told me. Her English was a little choppy, but I loved when she said, "I keep this at my house and show to people who need lesson on respect." That makes me smile even typing it! Maybe that can be a quote for the website ;)

There was a twelve year old girl who was in cheerleading practice clothes that I got to talking to, also. I told her how I played basketball but wished I could go in at halftime and come out and cheer the other half. She asked about how I drew it and I showed her the shapes that make up LBKF and then signed and let her keep the sketch. That made her smile.

I've sold several at the store, though I haven't smoothed out how I'll present myself. It's hard when they ask me, "What do you recommend" or "What book do you really like?" I mean, have I lost all objectivity now or what?! Sometimes I introduce myself as the author, and sometimes I just say the author's local and had a booksigning her this past weekend. I cringe at the thought of me doing the later way and they go up to the cashier and they say, "Oh, yeah, Regan's the one who helped you..." Of course this is the kind of "problem" I've dreamed of having!

Looking forward to the siging next Wed at the biggest store in town. Their storytime crowd will be bigger, more like the Savannah crowd. That should be fun. It's kinda like being a commedian, I work better with a lively room.

Off to work on more stuff... huff, huff... sigh :D