Expect a few good stories
to come of the Great American Eclipse of 2017. Any event so moving has to
foster at least one novel or novella.
Blue Sage Writers took
advantage of the influx of people into the Idaho area by gathering the authors
and books together and marching down to the river to put up a tent and book
display/signing table.
We sold books and enjoyed
each other’s company. We talked to the general public—even those with sticky
fingers and those holding those scary little children by the hand. Books don’t
sell themselves. It’s a struggle to prod, push, and cajole people into putting
that special book into a bag and forking over some funds. At the end of the
day, we’d sold more books than most small book stores may shove off their
shelves in a day.
Getting people to read—especially YOUR book—is
always worth it. But it isn't about the ten dollar bill an author gets from a sale. That ten dollar bill represents the pat on the back for getting the book written in the first place. It's the time expended, the soul searching, the nights of staring at the computer keyboard wondering where those easy nouns and verbs disappeared to. And it's knowing that the encouragement of a sale keeps an author writing. After all, we have more more missing worthy words to round up, lasso and put down on on paper. We have stories to tell.
And one of those stories
may even address “Where were you when the lights went out?”
Submitted by Mary Ann
Cherry, author of Death on Canvas in awe of the Great American Eclipse of 2017
