I have been on the road quite a bit lately and having a really great time. One of the best things about going on road trips and promoting my book in different venues, is being able to re-connect with friends that I have lost touch with over the years.
I will start with the Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. I was placed in the Emerging Author’s tent, and in the interest of space, the author’s were not allowed to hang around the tent, we just dropped our books off on Friday and picked up any unsold books on Sunday. I was the 2nd author scheduled for Saturday morning. I was really looking forward to being in Atlanta because I have never been to the Decatur area before and I have 2 friends that live near Decatur – one, a childhood friend, and one, a new friend.
My new friend, Kate, picked me up at my hotel on Friday and took me out to lunch. We hadn’t seen each other since our college days. She is actually the very good friend of my younger brother, Jay – but she has been a great supporter of my book. She was kind enough to show me the town and where to go to drop off my books.
All I can say is, thank goodness for Kate! I was the second author scheduled on Saturday morning so not alot of people were milling about, except of course, parents with children. I have to say that the set up for authors was very nicely done. All the new authors’ were given a 5 minute talk under a cute pavillion that had seats for about 50 people. Because of time of day, subject matter of my book, lack of interest in my book, there were 5 people present at my reading: the emcee, the lady who checked the author’s in, Kate, a very good friend of her’s who had read my book, and a book festival volunteer who was eating his breakfast and had no idea what he was listening too – I think he was just sitting there to escape the heat and had no idea I was going to speak about sex addiction! I had to do my brief reading and kept looking at the poor guy eating his breakfast – a very funny, humbling moment for me. Even though not a lot of people turned out to hear me do my reading, I am so very glad I was there. Sexual addiction, the discussion, is now going mainstream, whether people like it or not.
I was so grateful that Kate and her colleague took time out of their Saturday morning to come and support me and my book. Not only that, but, one of my childhood friends’ from Wellesley, MA, who has relocated to Atlanta, Ellen McArdle, showed up. I haven’t seen her in at least 24 years! I was just so happy to see her. I spent the entire afternoon with my great friend Ellen, getting caught up with each other’s lives. It was fantastic!
Sunday morning, Kate and her husband met me for brunch at my hotel before I returned home. What a pleasure. Enjoyed great conversation and learned a lot about their lives – boy, do they have a story to tell!!
Don’t we all?