WOTS

It’s taken me awhile to unwind from Sunday. It was a pretty amazing day. I got to meet some interesting people, see some of my favourite authors and, I even had the chance to meet the children’s book editor who originally accepted my story for publication and the editor who worked on the book with me. They were nice and friendly and SO young that when I was first approached by them I honestly thought they were a couple of high school kids! No kidding. I’ve been told that’s a common misconception once you reach a “certain age.” Perhaps that is the case although I think somewhere in the back of my mind I have a preconceived idea about editors being older— shall I say– “more seasoned.” So much for preconceived ideas!! They apparently recognized me from the author photo I’d sent in for the book. Well, at least I look like the photo I submitted. I guess that’s saying something.

I ran into Syr Ruus a few times and we chatted a bit. It was her first time at Word on the Street also. I would have liked to have heard her read but I was listening to someone else at the time. Did I mention how nice she is? Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did in an earlier post. I went to the Nimbus table and saw the poster for my book. Pretty cool! There was a lot to take in and I know I didn’t get the chance to see everything. We were there for about four hours and by the time we left I was beat!

We started out early that day because it is a fairly long drive into the city. We went as far as our son’s apartment in Bedford and from there he drove us to the Cunard Centre. I can honestly say I was more frightened by my son’s “city driving” than I was doing the reading. No kidding! City drivers are so aggressive. I guess they need to be but… But wow! Give me a country road any day.

My reading went well and I didn’t have any nerves at all, especially once I saw where I’d be reading and we had a chance to sit in on a reading or two. Since WOTS is a two hour drive from East Dalhousie I knew there wouldn’t be anyone from home there except for my husband, but that was fine. I knew most of the people who came to hear me read, a few I didn’t but that didn’t bother me. Several times through the course of the reading I saw folks standing just outside the reading area listening in. I think I said in an earlier post I was under no illusions as to how many people would show up to hear me read, also there were five other readings going on at the same time in various places and let’s face it, no one knows me. My book isn’t even out yet. I had a few questions thrown at me afterwards which I handle as best I could. I’m not as a rule used to answering questions about writing, other than “When’s your book coming out?” and “When’s the book launch?” It was good practice and one that I felt was a valuable learning experience. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go.

So what’s next? Time to relax and wait for the book launch day!

Posted by Laura Best on September 29, 2009

https://lauraabest.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/wots/