Muse and Mischief

This past weekend was a big milestone for me. I attended my first ever book event where I was a guest. Leading up to it I can admit that I was pretty nervous. It was held at a relatively new independent bookstore here in San Antonio called Pages for Ages, that I didn’t even know existed. In preparation I shared the details of it on my professional and personal social media hoping that I could get some friends to come out and show support. This was one of the first big events like this that Pages of Ages put on so it being successful would be a big factor if they did anything like it again. 

Earlier in the week I made an 8×10 promo sheet with QR codes to my website and the first chapter of When the Candles Burn and put it in a nice frame once I got it printed. I was so anxious I got to the bookstore about forty minutes before my time slot started. I was terrified of being late, which is a common thing for me. Very often I show up at least thirty minutes early for any important events. I was as early as the venue allowed for my wedding. 

I got in and set up just before my time slot and talked to one of the other writers in the slot before me. I settled in as my table-mate, Alex Z. Salinas got set up and exchanged pleasantries. My wife and our son came for a little bit to show support which was really nice. After they left it was pretty slow for the first thirty minutes, which did nothing to help my anxiety. Honestly I walked into this with the expectation that as long as one person showed up it would be a success. 

At about the forty-five minute mark the shop filled up pretty nicely, not everyone came by the table, but a good number did. A lovely, retired couple bought a copy of mine and my table-mate’s books after chatting with us about them. Having that opportunity to gush about my book with someone and watch get excited to read it was such a rush. If there was any doubt in my mind that being a full-time author was my dream that conversation erased it. 

We only had an hour and a half for our time slot and it went by really fast. The gaps between crowds were filled with great conversation with my table-mate where we talked about our projects, our process, and general philosophy about writing. It was really nice to connect in person with other authors and that experience really renewed my drive to get my own critique group up and running. 

For those who are interested my novella When the Candles Burn is available to purchase on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in either paperback or eBook. You can also read the first chapter for free here on the Muse and Mischief blog.