Live and in person!

This past Saturday I participated in the 23rd Collingswood Book Festival in Collingswood, NJ. This was an event I'd signed up for last year, then pulled my back out by loading the car. This year, all that was done early, and we spent the night at a friend's in Collingswood so we wouldn't have to run around like maniacs in the morning to get there by 7:30.

Nothing should start that early.

Not that it did, but to get 100+ authors loaded onto the sidewalks, their cars removed, and then the streets officially closed - well, it's not my place to argue logistics. I just sent my husband off for more coffee and swayed gently in the morning breeze until it arrived and I could face setting up.

This is the first time I've ever set up my entire tent for books - usually it's craft show with a side table for books. So the extra time came in handy because I arranged and rearranged things about six times.

The crowds were plentiful all day, and everyone was very into the idea of books. (Obviously, at a book festival, but I've had people come to craft shows with no interest in crafts). I sold a lot of the Tudor books with the old covers, which I was trying to move at a discount because I hate having them just sit in a trunk in the living room.

(In other words, if you're interested in a 4-book series with the older ceiling covers, they're $40 plus media mail shipping and I can get them out asap).

As an introvert, seven hours of talking to people is really draining, but when it's about a topic that I'm passionate about, I don't notice until it's over. Then I folded faster than my tent and couldn't wait to get home and put myself on the charger (i.e,. a glass of wine and my bed).

Exhaustion or not, I've already signed up to do it again next year.

And BTW, not surprisingly, the thing that drew most people into the tent was my vintage typewriter.