Be the Person Signing Books at an Author Event... CHECK!

Well, that's one thing off the bucket list.

I wish everyone who reads this blog could have come last night, because everything turned out really well and I wish I could share that with all of you.

I managed to remain largely coherent while I was talking about myself and how the book came to be. The aikido demo was wonderful to watch, and I'm proud to say that my reading went well too.

Then the surreal part came. The part where I sat on the other side of the signing table and talked to a long line of people who were buying copies of my book. I knew a lot of the people who were there, but there were a number of people I had never met before, and I was blown away by the number of people who not only showed up but also bought a copy of the book and asked me to sign it. I still don't know how many copies we sold last night, but I know it was more than I had expected.

It was so lovely to get to chat with people who waited to have their books signed. One of my friends bugged me afterwards for taking too long with each person in line, but I would have felt weird moving it any faster. I had some really nice conversations with people that I don't see too often, and people I was meeting for the very first time. That was my favorite part.

I said it last night, but I'll say it here again: A huge thank you to everyone who came out for the event. Especially to everyone who helped out in some way. (I'm not sure how much internet publicity everyone wants so I won't name names here.)

Well, I suppose the most efficient thing to do would be for me to stop rambling and post some of the pictures from last night. (All photos credited to Sam Baardman unless otherwise noted.)

The display!

The lads playing tunes as the crowd files in 

Ninjas! (Just kidding. This is the aikido demonstration. The ninjas are invisible.) 

Me rocking a goofy grin

Uh oh! It's serious!

ENTHUSIASM!

Turns out I can't talk and sign at the same time

But I can smile giddily and sign at the time

And here are a couple of images that I stole from a friend on facebook:

This is the display right when you walk into McNally Robinson

And this gives you a sense of the size of the crowd :-D

(Those last two photo credits go to Sean McManus)

And now I have to go walk my dog and get on with my day. Thank you to everyone who supported the launch in any way!