Follow Up on the OC Children's Book Festival

Ready for business!

Hello all,
   It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, I know, since I've been busy with my day job and trying to encourage my Muse to get the rest of Luathara to me as soon as possible.  Although I've been getting up early to work on book three, I'm sorry to say that the story has been sluggish in revealing itself.  Ugh.  I hope that that will change in the next few weeks so I can at least have the first draft done by the end of the month.  I apologize to all of you who have been waiting so eagerly for the rest of Meghan and Cade's story (as an avid reader myself, I understand how you all feel).  In the mean time, here's a quick wrap-up of how the Orange County Children's Book Festival went:

A great close-up of one of my dragons.  This picture was taken by my friend Nino.

   On the last weekend in September, my friends and I traveled down to Costa Mesa to take part in the Orange County Children's Book Festival.  We loaded up the car (mostly with books) and headed down, hoping to have a wonderful experience all around.  Let's start with the aspects of the event that weren't in my favor . . .

My two partners in crime, Laura and Nino, always willing to lend a helping hand.

   The festival itself wasn't as large as I had hoped and my table wasn't in the best of locations.  We were situated on the outskirts of the main square, so although we were able to enjoy the shade on such a hot day, we also were harder to find.   Another disappointment was the fact that most of the people passing through were just under the age range my books are written towards, so by the end of the day, I came back with most of my books still boxed up.  Every now and then people would stop to check out the Oescienne or Otherworld series, but since a vendor selling cotten candy set up camp right next to us, I often had to yell in order to be heard over the noisy equipment.

The full spread :).

   Now, after reading all that, you might think I had a horrible experience at my first Orange County Children's Book Festival.  Yes, it didn't measure up to all that I imagined it would, but I also had some rather wonderful experiences, too.  I found out just before the festival started that I would get an entire table to myself.  Because of this, I was able to spread out more and my friends and I had more freedom to create a fun display.  Next, I got to meet some more YA paranormal writers (and even do a book trade with them!) who were sitting at the tables next to me.  And although I came back with most of my books unsold, I did make some sales and hopefully aquired some new readers.  Finally, I'd have to say the best thing that happened at the book festival was when one of my readers approached me to talk about my books.  She had heard I was going to be at the festival and decided to drop on by with her daughter to say hello.  Simply knowing that someone had read my books and enjoyed them enough to come visit me at my booth made me feel like a celebrity author :).  So all in all, I'm not sure if I'll go to the Orange County Children's Book Festival next year, but if I do, I'll know what to expect next time.

My Faelorehn banner.

Laura and Nino, my book buddies.

A closer look at the final set-up,