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.

December 4, 2007

I drove back from Abilene this morning, dropped my mom off at her house and headed to the office to see patients in the afternoon. I had a lot of fun at the Hastings book store in Abilene. People were very friendly and there was a lot of interest in Endings. Some of you may be asking the question, "why Abilene?" And I would say, "Why not?" Abilene is the place where the majority of Endings takes place. I did a lot of horse showing there and my memories of Abilene are, for the most part happy ones. I had no experiences like the one I describe in the "Rider Writes" section of this website. That's not to say every single experience there was a win. Let's just say I learned a lot. Yes...learned a lot. That's what you have to say when you're totally blown away by the awesome power of humility. I learned a lot. You would prefer the prostrated position, the kicking and cussing, maybe even the awesome power of crying in front of someone. But gather the strength to come out and say "I learned a lot today." Now that's really something...

Okay, that was something very tangential, because I think I was talking about my wonderful experience in Abilene. My book signing. The people who came to buy a book were really happy to be there. They were all smiles. Many of them had read about the signing in the paper. Some were related to people I know here in Austin and it just seemed as if they were all old friends of mine! I thank them from the bottom of my heart, because here's the deal. They bought MY BOOK. That's what they did. And that's what it's all about. They bought my book. Now they're going to read it. If they like it, maybe they'll tell someone else about it. Someday, someone who has no connection to me or anyone I know might buy the book because those folks in Abilene bought my book and told someone else about it. It's incredible to think about.

So here's the next incredible thing. I was in Austin for about 15 minutes and I get this text message from my husband. Endings is number one on the BookPeople best seller list in Austin. It was in the Sunday paper. Number one! THEY'RE BUYING MY BOOKS!

And I thank them.