Yesterday, I did another book appearance. This one was at an apartment complex in Caldwell, just down the road from the library I did a few months ago. Thanks to Frances at the Caldwell library, I got this one set up (networking!).

And it was another success! It was expecting at most 12 people at the Marian Manor and it turned out to be closer to 30! I did my intro as I normally do but added what the book was about as there were people in attendance who weren’t part of their book club so they didn’t read The Darkest Winter. From there went into the genesis of the story and how I wrote it and the goals I wanted to accomplish in the story. Then I opened it up to questions.

I received a ton of great questions! Many of them made me think much further than just surface-level “how did you come up with X” responses. I’ve found that a lot of people are very interested in the writing process: how a story comes together, if my characters surprised me, what parts of writing I do and don’t like, my process, other authors I turn to for inspiration.

I still tend to ramble on with my answers. I simple question can lead me to many anecdotes and I actually found myself forgetting what the question was and then asking, “Did I answer your question?” That’s much better than a yes or no answer, I think. Plus I’m keeping much better eye contact with the audience so I can see when I’m losing people. I consciously caught myself going on too long so I don’t think I went too overboard. I’d say I kept half the answers short and sweet, so that’s good. That gives me some wiggle room.

I’m definitely able to read my audiences better. I kept it entertaining, I walked around, was animated in my answers, and kept their attention for an hour. That time went really fast and that’s in large part because they were so good. I got a few laughs in too which is an amazing feeling. Turns out I’m great with crowd work! I wonder if watching all that stand-up comedy over the years has rubbed off on me.

Many came up to me to ask more questions, a lot of thanks for coming, a ton of compliments on not only the book but my presentation. One woman even told me that she stayed up past midnight multiple times to keep reading! That’s probably the best compliment an author can get. That and when is the next one coming out, which I was also asked!

I like doing these a lot, they’re so much fun. I’ve also noticed that going into these, I am not nervous at all. Speaking in front of my writers’ group for all these years had upped my public speaking game so well. I also attribute it to knowing the material backward and forwards, inside and out, that I can easily answer anything.

The Darkest Winter has been out for a year now. With that, this will be the final update. The whole experience has been cataloged here and it’s been enlightening, to say the least. The next project is stewing in the pot and I hope you’ll join me on that journey as well.