Well, I'm finally back. I'm still in Manitoba and about to do the big book-signing for Emperor of Mars today in Winnipeg. During the past week, I made my way from Sherman Oaks to Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming. I helped rescue a 3-week old calf whose leg was crushed, spent a day rounding up cattle in Montana, drove through a snow blizzard and reconnected with an older "great" cousin and his wife.
The pic above is in Jackson Hole, one of my favorite places.
But right now I'm nervous. Not a bad reason, but having to face people at the book-signing. I have these images I've seen at bookstores where some unknown writer sits waiting for someone to buy their book as people walk past him/her.
Screenwriting is much easier; you write the script and hand it in and they pay you.
But for novels, you gotta show up in a bookstore and meet some friends and some strangers who are curious about watching a writer literally beg for them to buy his/her book.
Okay, maybe it's not that desperate. Actually the book-signing I did in my home town turned out to be a lot of fun, and over half the buyers were strangers. But I had a somewhat captive audience there as many of the strangers were curious about the book, as the book was was set in their town.
Today I have the big book-signing, at a city bookstore but fortunately with friends. Will see how it goes and hopefully I sell a few books.
