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Monday, May 23, 2011

An Eventful Weekend


Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I hope everyone is well and had a great weekend.

If you didn't hear from me on Twitter for #WW or #FF and haven't seen the familiar flame avatar on your blog in a while, I assure you that I am alive and well. I have just been treading water over here...

In my day job, we have been so busy. I have been working 11 hour hectic days. The kind of days where you want to slam your company-issued cell phone into the nearest wall, due to the volume of calls that you end up taking. You don't, of course. But you really, really want to. *sigh*

On top of this I had my first events as an author, and the build-up and preparation for these were taking all of my time. In fact, I didn't touch my trusty lap top for 48 hours between Thursday and Saturday night. It must be some sort of record!!

The first event was Thursday evening at a library in Fresno, California which is about 25 minutes north of me. I joined authors Lorie Ham and Marilyn Meredith. The three of us also write articles for Lorie's Kings River Life Magazine. Each of us spoke a bit about ourselves and then read a bit from our novels. We had about eleven guests attend, which was way more than I thought we might get. They were an enthusiastic crowd and asked some good questions. I had fun interacting with them and felt that it was a positive first experience.

Friday afternoon I checked in for the Kingsburg Swedish Festival. It is my hometown's big event for the year, and an event that I attended as a child. Now I was a vendor. I was given the spot directly in front of the local branch of the Fresno County Library. I met new people and surprised local friends that had no idea that I was a writer.

Now there is special significance for those who have yet to read my novel. The plot takes place in my hometown and occurs 10 days before the Swedish Festival in 2008. So perhaps now you can see why I have said that if I can't sell a book about vampires in my town, then I might not be able to sell it at all. Thankfully, it was a great event. I worried that I would speak to few and sell fewer still. However, armed with 43 copies of my book, Dance on Fire, I now only have 11 remaining.

After spending a year building a web presence, followed by attacking newspapers and magazines and now followed by holding author events, I feel confident that there is enough there to continue on. Had this weekend bombed, I would have felt compelled to back down.


Thanks so much to all of you who have encouraged me to continue chasing the dream. I hope you are doing the same, and that my progress encourages you in return. In other news, I just mailed my contract for Dance on Fire: Flashpoint. I am anxiously awaiting my edits to arrive so that book 2 will see physical and virtual bookshelves everywhere.

We'll talk soon.

18 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear your events went well. Good old perseverance always wins out in the end.

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  2. Congratulations! Being so far behind on blog reading, I didn't know about your library event, or I would have been there.

    I'm glad your events encouraged you to keep writing.

    And good luck on the next book!

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  3. Woo-hoo! That is amazing. You should be so proud of yourself! Huge congrats!

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  4. Way to go go, Jimmy! Books sold! Your display looked great! The table was full but spread out nicely. Nice shades, too. I'm glad to see that spark of enthusiasm back! Keep it there!

    Blaze

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  5. Very Very Good, Jimmy. Your display looked nice and inviting, and sounds like you had a great crowd! Keep up the good work and faith in yourself.

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  6. Everything looked great, Jimmy. Well done!

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  7. I'm glad it went well James, good luck for future events.

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  8. Congrats, Jimmy! Wow! Sounds like busy, but successful events. And you sold so many books at the festival, too. Glad your first ventures went well.

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  9. Way to go! I hope you can relax a little now.

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  10. Awesome! Congrats on your successful events.

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  11. Hey, you guys. Thanks so much for the comments. I've been busy and then Blogger was having issues. That's why I haven't been able to reply until now. My special thanks to Wendy, Linda, Marissa, Blaze, Lorelei, Ricky, Maria, Gaynor, Kelly & Stacy.
    *hugs*
    *handshakes for Blaze* ;)

    -Jimmy

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  12. Thanks, Alexia. I was concerned there for a while, but now I'm feeling pretty confident. Still, no matter what happens is fine. I never thought I would see this day, you know?
    Have a great weekend.

    -Jimmy

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  13. That sounds like a great weekend, Jimmy. Things are really moving along and I'm so happy for you! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

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  14. You did awesome Jimmy!! Whoo hoo!
    I'm so excited I will be doing my first event very soon too, I'm attending the huge Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Wishing you continued success and lots of hugs!

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  15. Hey Jimmy! Wow, how do you do it?
    You are amazing.
    it's going well and it's tough I know!
    take care, hope you sell a zillion! and hope your next book does well.
    Your first one was excellent, what a great read. I'm looking forward to reading the next and the next...!
    Meanwhile, take care my friend wishing you all the best and much continued success!

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  16. Jimmy, Fantastic! Congrats on the success of your book signing. The spot they gave you sounded like a perfect place. Also I loved the burgandy red tablecloth. I'm happy to hear it went well. Oh and I hope you had a funnel cake with all the trimmings to reward yourself. :D Good luck in your future adventures.

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  17. Thanks to all for stopping by. One thing I look forward to this weekend is getting reaquainted with all of your blogs! I can't believe that I haven't visited in so long. *slams hand* Bad Jimmy!

    Michele - It was great, but pretty exhausting. You have to be "up" at any moment, being warm and enthusiastic for anyone who stops by. It was a great first experience, though.

    Jen - Good luck to you in Chicago. I look forward to your reports!! Hugs right back at you, my friend.

    Carole - Thanks for your continuing support. You have been in my corner for a very long time now, and I hope I have been in yours as well. If I sell a zillion copies of my book, rest assured that I will be coming over to tell you all about it in person!!

    Natalie - Yeah, I went fot the blood red color. Had to be, right? I wish I could have enjoyed the event, but I was tethered to my table the entire time. *sad face* Oh, well. I must do what I can for my adoring public.. ;)

    -Jimmy

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Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate you taking the time. I'll get back to you here or on one of the other social networks. It's not like we're not on all of them, right? ;) Also, if you're here to give me an award - bless you. However, your friendship and visits are more than enough. Thanks and blessings.