LaCrosse, WI -- The Travels Continue
Today I'm in LaCrosse. Yesterday was a good day, not a great day, but a good one. I did drive-by signings (i.e. you go in, sign and sticker copies of your books, meet and greet the booksellers, and then wave bye) in Blaine and Maplewood. Both stores had a good number of copies (YAY, this is a good thing, not a bad thing) and in Maplewood, they had put them on the display at the front of the store. The signing at Roseland Center was good, but hard. Signings are very hard for me. I'm not an agressive person and unless you have done a lot of advance PR, you're dependent on the people who stop.
Sample conversation:
"Do you read romance?" (which is my opening statement)
"No, I don't have time" (says harried woman shopper carrying sixteen Marshell Fields bags)
"Do you read romance?" (I say to the man walking by, who is surreptiously trying to scan the covers and not look obvious)
He gets the deer in the headlights look and bolts
I did have one college age male who said he used to read Harlequins. "Good stories." I later saw him flying out a job application in the bookstore. Secretly I think he was sucking up. Ha, I should have made him buy a book.
"Do you read romance?"
"No, just thrillers."
See, if I was a better salesman, like Nick on the Apprentice, I could have sold these people who like thrillers a book. But I can't. I think, "These people don't read romance. They're not my market." Instead, I launch into a conversation about the Kellermans or James Patterson and send them on their merry way, usually with a new thriller in their bookbag.
Today should be good, though. The bookseller is a friend, and a very cool person who understands the industry. We'll see.
I've been trying to write in the evenings, but got myself stuck in a scene, that I knew was wrong, but I didn't have the backbone to go and change it. This morning, I'm about halfway through with the changes, and then I laid down and thought about the next scene, and I think I have that one figured out as well. Sometimes it actually does help to lay down and close my eyes and half-sleep and think about the book. I know, you're thinking, Kathleen, you fraud, you're taking a nap. Well, that may be. But when I wake up, I usually know what I need to do. I prefer to think of it as "deep, meditative analysis." Who knows, but it works for me.
Signing out,
Kathleen
p.s. Neverlost seems to have issues with road construction and detours. "Get back on the route," "You have strayed from the route," "turn back in .3 miles to get back on the route."
Sample conversation:
"Do you read romance?" (which is my opening statement)
"No, I don't have time" (says harried woman shopper carrying sixteen Marshell Fields bags)
"Do you read romance?" (I say to the man walking by, who is surreptiously trying to scan the covers and not look obvious)
He gets the deer in the headlights look and bolts
I did have one college age male who said he used to read Harlequins. "Good stories." I later saw him flying out a job application in the bookstore. Secretly I think he was sucking up. Ha, I should have made him buy a book.
"Do you read romance?"
"No, just thrillers."
See, if I was a better salesman, like Nick on the Apprentice, I could have sold these people who like thrillers a book. But I can't. I think, "These people don't read romance. They're not my market." Instead, I launch into a conversation about the Kellermans or James Patterson and send them on their merry way, usually with a new thriller in their bookbag.
Today should be good, though. The bookseller is a friend, and a very cool person who understands the industry. We'll see.
I've been trying to write in the evenings, but got myself stuck in a scene, that I knew was wrong, but I didn't have the backbone to go and change it. This morning, I'm about halfway through with the changes, and then I laid down and thought about the next scene, and I think I have that one figured out as well. Sometimes it actually does help to lay down and close my eyes and half-sleep and think about the book. I know, you're thinking, Kathleen, you fraud, you're taking a nap. Well, that may be. But when I wake up, I usually know what I need to do. I prefer to think of it as "deep, meditative analysis." Who knows, but it works for me.
Signing out,
Kathleen
p.s. Neverlost seems to have issues with road construction and detours. "Get back on the route," "You have strayed from the route," "turn back in .3 miles to get back on the route."
posted by Kathleen at 9:33 AM
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