THE DAY OF MY FIRST PUBLIC BOOK SIGNING CAME. 

It happened on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles, California. Perhaps bravery is not my strongest point – but the thing I’d been stressed about had arrived and there was nothing I could do but accept it.  

I must thank Author Solutions/Xlibris for the obvious hard work that helped make this mammoth event possible. Things were done in a timely and seemingly flawless manner. Can’t tell when the excitement of the event started, but it might have been when I collected a copy of my predecessor and fellow author’s book and was told someone was there to see me and said they’d be back.  Or maybe it was the moment I looked up and found a line had formed at the table of the Purple Booth 212, moments past 11:30 a.m.    I was awed and very encouraged.

And because Andrei Sanders, my Marketing Consultant at Xlibris and others had pointed out all I had to do was show up, ‘be civil’ to my guests, maybe answer a few questions, remember to smile and have fun, my reaction to my first guest was: “I’ve been waiting for you.” That was truly the beginning of a wonderful experience.

People, young, old and in between stopped by to collect a copy of the 75 books Xlibris provided for me to sign and give away. A son wanted a copy for his 82-year old mother who loves romance novels, and a husband took a copy for his wife. He would not regret it if one of my greatest reviews is true.  Another elderly gentleman took a copy and could not help proudly boasting of his young bride from another country.  I invited him to enjoy the book and his young bride as long as possible.

Conversations with my guests went so well I ran out of time and had to hustle to share my beautiful story Love Has No Color Part One from outside the promptly occupied Purple Booth 212.

That, on my part, was bravery and having my son beside me all the way was a mighty boost of courage. Thank you, Davey, my child!

At the end when I followed my son toward the exit of the campus ground I noticed a woman maneuvering between chairs perpendicular to me. I was prepared to let her cross my path when she began to speak.  She wanted to tell me how beautiful she thought I was.  That was a bonus I didn’t expect.  Open your book and read it, people, it might be better than you expect!