December 15, 2007

Just got home from a wonderful day in Weatherford, Texas. My friend Christi and I hit the road at 5:30 this morning to take Weatherford by storm. ROAD TRIP. This time for Endings and not a horse show. But Weatherford is horse country and it made me miss those days of driving up and down Texas highways to try and win belt buckles.

The day threatened to start off bad. It was raining and getting cold. I had a hard deadline: get to KYQX radio station for a live interview on Linda Bagwell's show; Books and Authors. Of course, hard deadlines always mean you're going to have a flat tire, and I did. I didn't even know it was flat, but Kevin, a very nice gentleman from Hamilton, pointed it out and offered to help fix it. We accepted. He filled all my tires with air and fixed the flat one. It was freezing cold (almost) and all he asked for in exchange was that we pray for his wife Brenda, who is going to have surgery for cancer on Monday. Why do I love Texas so much? Because of people like Kevin, and his wife is going to be in my thoughts on Monday for sure. I gave him a signed copy of Endings.

We arrived at KYQX 10 minutes early and listened while Linda interviewed Linda Ayers, author of a bunch of cool books for kids and an amateur yarn spinner! Like real yarn on a Sleeping Beauty spinning wheel. She takes a spinning wheel with her to book signings as a prop.

Then my turn. I was a little nervous at first, but Linda Bagwell was an engaging host and pretty soon I relaxed and settled into the interview. By the end I felt like I had made a new friend.

We were off to the Bookcase book store, where we were greeted by a line of people already waiting for me to get there to sign books! Let me tell you that was exciting. They were my old cow horse competitors. They had heard through the grapevine that I would be at the Bookcase. Several folks came in to buy books and Francis, the store owner, and her little rat terrier, Princess treated us to some Weatherford hospitality.

At the Downtown Cafe I ordered some fried chicken livers that would make a bull dog hug a hound. The service was excellent.

We had about an hour to spare so we went shopping...what else?

And last on our whirlwind Endings tour in Weatherford: The Lark Bookstore. Linda Ayers had been signing books there first so I got her to sign a couple for me and she got one of mine. Randy, the store owner, helped me set up. I sold a few books there too and met a bunch of neat people. Britt is an aspiring author who asked for advice on getting his work finished and getting published. He had some great book ideas. He's young and inspired and I know he'll get it figured out. Another author bought a copy of Endings. He has written a sci-fi novel called Senti. It sounded fascinating. I love sci-fi and the fourth book I have outlined is science fiction. Why not?

So by the time I finished eating, shopping and buying books in Weatherford, I'm pretty sure I didn't make any money. That's why I'm not quitting my day job. What I did do was visit a delightful town, met some charming people, shopped at some precious stores and ate some delicious food. I will return to Weatherford, that's for sure.