Southeastern WI Festival of Books

So, it’s raining like crazy; the day’s turned dark and stormy; the temp’s fifty-six (!).  One soggy Father’s Day, to be sure, but perfect for baking and resting up before the ALA next weekend. 

Rest is what I need, let me tell you.

It was yet another busy week/weekend, with three events at the Southeastern WI Festival of Books. It was my first invite to this venue and would never have happened if not for my enthusiastic fan and friend, Laurie Van Tuinen, who not only gave me an entree to the program organizers but engineered a Skype-in w/ her book group, Oasis Readers. 

I’ve been to cons, of course, and sat on panels.  Still, other than academic venues, I’d never done a solo presentation–this one was on Apocalypse and Adolescence–and didn’t know what to expect.  Boy, was I nervous. Stayed up til near midnight figuring out how to hyperlink video to my slides.  I was so keyed up, I popped awake at 4 a.m. on Friday. Mainlined caffeine. Made some last-minute obsessive changes to my slides. Triple-checked the video links.  Made three copies on separate flash drives.  Then puttered around the house. Did laundry. Drove the cats insane. Finally couldn’t stand it anymore and got going for the festival a good three hours before my event.  I know: early, especially considering that the venue was only an hour and a half away.  But I figured on giving myself time.  

Which was a good thing.

First, there was construction. Traffic snaked for miles and slowed to the point where I was seriously thinking about hoofing it the rest of the way.   A ninety-minute trek turned into a two-hour+ marathon.

Second, when I did finally make it–and met two of the nicest women, Jennie Stoltz and Kathleen Eull, who’d done their very best to make me feel welcome before I even set foot in the place–we discovered that my laptop lacked the pin-port that would allow for a hook-up to the projector.  Panic city.  Not that I screamed or anything, but I was thinking that, well, this doesn’t bode well . . .

But the tech guy, David Weber, was simply just the sweetest person. We futzed for three minutes and then he jetted home, yanked the HD cable from his Blu-ray, and we used that. David quite literally saved my bacon–and I’m a nice Jewish girl, too.

I worried no one would show for a 1 p.m. presentation on a Friday. But people did, and they asked fabulous questions. I also met Bob Marx, another local writer, who absolutely floored me when he gifted this signed copy of Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.

An afternoon panel with Swati Avasthi, Stephanie Kuehnert and Kathie Giorgio was flat-out fabulous.  Packed room.  Great audience participation.  Thoughtful questions.  Interesting, articulate reponses from my fellow panelists.  I mean, what more can you ask?

On Saturday, there was yet another panel on writing SF/Fantasy and Horror with these guys: James Lowder, Matt McElroy, Stephen D. Sullivan and Alex Bledsoe (who does indeed live in the Mustard Capital of Wisconsin; I’ve always meant to swing past for a visit to that museum.  There is NOTHING like a good mustard–on a brat, a cracker, a pretzel.  YUM!).  It was a thrill to be included with people who’ve been in the biz such a long time.  War stories are always great learning opportunities, and these are guys who know what they’re talking about, esp. since they’re not only award-winners (and nany times over) but have been on both sides of the table as authors and editors and–in Matt’s case, also as a publisher.  Lots to learn. 

There were other panels, of course, but I guess what I liked best was meeting and talking with attendees, other writers (Shawn McGuire and I finally meet!) and fans.  For me, the stand-out moment was meeting Phil, a young man heading off to the Marines with his eyes open.  That takes guts and a level of commitment you don’t often see in a kid his age, and I’ll say here what I said to him: Stay safe.

Signing books was fun, too, and the Bruces–Norm and Eve–who run Martha Merrill’s Books & Cafe in Waukesha kept fans happy with plenty of selections.  Norm was also the most enthusiastic, sweet guy you could ever hope to meet.  Coached me through some jitters and did it well.  The best part is they host author events for the love of books and so I’m thinking . . .

But, for now, it’s time to kick back, relax, read, think about a synopsis for my follow-on to the novel I just wrapped up and bake the hubby a Tunnel of Fudge cake with oodles of chocolate–and a whole lotta love.