Does It Ever Get Old? Reflections on a Third Book Launch

This weekend was exceptionally busy for me. My latest book, "No Vacancy", the third in the Black Horse Campground mystery series, was just released this month and, since this past Friday, I have had three events to promote the book and the series.

Friday evening, I participated in our community's Art Walk. The downtown merchants association hosts one the third Friday of the month. The table only cost me $10 for two hours and while I didn't sell a ton of books, I did hand out a lot of bookmarks and talk to quite a few people. Luckily, the weather held up and it was not as cold as you would expect a February evening to be!

Saturday afternoon, the local independent book store, Books Etcetera, also held a signing event. Again, not a huge amount of sales, but again, a lot of opportunities to meet and talk to people and hand out bookmarks.

Sunday was the big event: the official launch of "No Vacancy" and once again, I held the event at Noisy Water Winery. Not only are they my part-time employer and purveyor of the wildly popular and best selling Jo Mamma's White table wine, they are also specifically mentioned in my books to give the stories local "flavor" and a touch of realism. They also, from the day I told the owner that I was having my first book published, jumped on the bandwagon of staunch supporters for whom I am grateful every day.

Though my book sales might never get me on the New York Times best-seller list, they have brought me something that makes me far richer and that I value more than mere dollars or numbers on a list. They have shown me that my words and the stories that they tell and the characters that they bring to life have touched others. Nothing is more gratifying to me, as a writer, to have someone say to me, "I feel like I know your characters personally. I can't wait to hear what happens next!"

I hope I get to hear that for a long time to come. It never gets old.