BOOK SIGNING, SCHOOL VISIT

I will be doing my first public appearances this coming Thanksgiving week. Both of them will take place in my home town of Ware, Massachusetts; the quaint little New England ‘burb of my childhood.

My first appearance is a reading/signing scheduled for Monday, November 24th at 6:30 p.m. at the Young Men’s Library Association on Main Street. I have frightening visions of myself standing among tall shelves of dog-eared volumes reading to an insignificant audience of a few million dust mites and one emaciated mouse. None of which are paying customers. In fact, the only interested party among them is the mouse who is rubbing his forepaws together and eyeing my book thinking it might prove to be a cozy addition to his nest once he shreds it in thousands of pieces for a bed.

The other event is a speaking engagement at my old Alma Mater, St. Mary’s Catholic School, the next day. Here I will read and discuss the writing and publishing process. Again, I have visions. This time they’re of spitballs shot by oversized children who bear striking resemblance to every bully I’ve ever come across. These creatures relish the opportunity to gang up on me until I run for my life to the safety of the principal’s office I once cowered from. Here, not even the likes of a thin mouse shows interest. In my experience, bullies are not usually book people, therefore, less likely to buy one. However, they may enjoy nabbing a bunch off the desk for the shear enjoyment of flushing them down the toilet.

Much of the advice I’ve heard from other published authors is to keep my expectations low. These are not grand media events and I am obviously not J.K. Rowling. But I can’t help but wonder, if my mouse friend or the collective bully-monster are simply figments of my overactive imagination or my sixth sense giving me premonitions of what lies ahead. I’ll keep you posted.

-Niki Schoenfeldt