Small Crowd at Barbara's Bookstore...

After a zillion hours in our rented mid-size SUV and some tasty vegetarian dolmades at the Parthenon (where they frequently set things on fire, such as cheese), my co-workers and I arrived at Barbara's Bookstore for our latest Market Books Tour event. The store is in a college-y area and had a college-y staff and our event was held in a meeting room rather than in an area of the store.

There were four of us on the panel and 10 people in the audience counting Pete the bookstore guy who is also a writer, and Lauren's dad--certainly not our biggest crowd ever. But I was happy we didn't out number the audience, which has happened before. We once had a panel of four and one--one--lone writer came to see us. But the tour must go on! We had a good discussion about things like agents, poetry, graphic novels and Jerry Springer.

The store had a small but nice children's book section (I picked up a couple new board books for Murray) and the staff (well, Pete) was really appreciative. I'm not sure if we actually sold any books though. If you're ever on the road to promote your book, remember there will be good events and so-so events and occasionally really disappointing events. No matter how many people show up, each appearance offers an opportunity to get to know some booksellers (or maybe just Pete) and that's always a good thing for an author.

Highlights of the drive: Chuck's top-notch navigation skills and the big ceramic chicken I bought at a Flying-J in middle-of-nowhere Indiana.