The Very First Author Tour Trip is Planned

Welcome to Norwich, NY

The excitement is building. The trip is planned. Books to sell there are in hand.  Signage is ordered. Now all that’s left are the final traveling details. And the waiting. Colorscape 2018, here we come! How did this come to be?

August Was a Down-hill Rush

The whole month of August has felt like a down-hill rush, to get Down Cellar finished, beta read, corrected and published. Good stuff, but I have had to take a few short breaks from the excitement just to keep going. Beyond that, marketing is trying to be the time-hog now, and I don’t know marketing. I am learning marketing, yes. The learning curve is steep, yes. The mistakes cost more than I like to spend. But I’m learning, and I’m doing it, even as I work on a new and different story. Just for a break from the one.

“Pants-ter” Marketing is Happening

This trip to Colorscape is one example of how this ‘pantser’ marketing of mine is getting done, so far. It began with my baby sister. The nearest city to where my sister lives is Norwich NY. It’s close to where we grew up and even closer to where she lives. Norwich puts on several festivals through the year, typical of every Central New York village. This particular one, Colorscape, features arts and books among other things. The local library there put out the word that they wanted local authors to man their table.

My sister saw the announcement in the local paper. My brother is local, she thought, and she sent me a link. I pointed out to her that I am a resident of Chicago, IL for two years, and before that, I lived in Dallas for two years.

Her response? “Yeah, and before that, you lived here a year, and besides—you were born here.”

Bottom Line

So, come the week after Labor Day, a friend and I are driving the 800 plus miles from the Windy City to the Wilds of Central New York. There, we will sell books, meet old friends and relatives. He will perform magic because that’s what he does. We will—no doubt!—book a return trip for some time in the deep of winter to do both those things again, only indoors. And plan sequels to books that tell stories of magicians in small towns, and come up with way too many more ideas for novels.

And less than a week later, we will reluctantly load up the car, minus some books, and drive back to the Windy City where we make our living NOT writing and NOT doing magic. But in our minds will be the memories and in or hearts the friendships from Central New York. And they will stay there. Because, Ladies and Gentlemen, THAT is what it’s like when you are a native of Central New York.

“You were born here.” And that never changes.

Keep Writing,