Monkey Madness Monday: Book Signing on the Base

On Saturday I was hosted by the Joint Bases of Lewis McChord for a book signing. It was at the PX, and this was my first in-store signing. My dad went with me for moral support, and it helped me calm my nerves a bit.

They are very no nonsense. You come in, sit at a table, sign books. An hour later you sign all the books you didn't sell, and you're on your way.

They supplied me with an escort, her name was Dawn, and she was very sweet, and it gave me someone to talk to during lulls.

It was a very surreal experience. They had three giant posters on the walls with my big giant face and book cover. They had me sign one before I left, and gave me one to take home.

People wanted to get their picture taken with me which I found to be very sweet and a little crazy, because in my mind, I am a nobody. I felt a little like a rock star.

I met some very interesting people. A wedding singer, teacher, a book blogger, an author with three books under his belt. Unfortunately, I also met a man who's son disappeared in Afghanistan. One thing I didn't think about when taking a signing on base was meeting people who had experienced real loss.

The base really knows how to treat their guests. They have both me and my father swag bags. There was some really cool stuff in there, and army t-shirt and hat, a reebok water bottle, a cosmetic bag full of samples, and I'm talking good samples: Prada, Versace, Jessica McClintock, Vera Wang.

They were very kind and appreciative, which I found funny. I was the one that should have been appreciative and I definitely was. They were awesome.

They had purchased 50 books. They sold a few before the signing, we sold 17 in the hour I was there, and Dawn assured me that they would sell the rest in probably the next few days.

I would definitely do another signing on base and highly recommend it to other authors in the area.

Oh, let's not forget our monkey. I got this picture courtesy of Heather at Starting on the Write Page...