A Signin' We Go!

Long weekends are always fun, even when they involve driving a goodly distance. Husband and I drove the Gizmo (Honda Hybrid) to Asheville and spent a leisurely day there. Hubby had never been to that fair city so we wandered up and down the streets, ate at the Tupelo Honey Cafe (awesome food) and visited a few bookstores. I usually hand out info about my book, a page of reviews, etc. One store is interested in a booksigning, another's events coordinator wasn't in and the third is, well, a bit more literary and not necessarily a great fit for my genre fiction.

Asheville reminded us a lot of Iowa City (Iowa) during the 70's. Very counter-culture. Lots of eclectic folks and nifty shops. It has great energy (suppsedly situated on a ley line) and the mountains in the distance only make it even more lovely. The trees were just starting to turn. Unfortunately, lots of other people love Asheville and an online search of real estate values tells me that living in/near the town is not going to be in our budget until I make the NY Times list... repeatedly.

Our next stop was Raleigh and a booksigning at the East Six Forks Borders Books. Wow. Talk about being treated like a celebrity. There was even a bouquet of flowers on the signing table and they gave it to me at the end of the signing! That never happens. I was signing with Raleigh resident, J.R. Fisher, the fellow who won a role in SOJOURN during a charity auction last year. (See photo above.) We were all in full Victorian garb and that got some second glances. The local newspaper folks popped in, took pictures and interviewed us. (Read the interview in the News Observer) And lots of J.R.'s friends dropped into buy books. After the signing we adjourned to the Bahama Breeze located next to our hotel for dinner. We really enjoyed ourselves.

I returned to my hotel room and crashed for a LONG nap. Then I was awake until the wee hours (Bah!) Sunday we headed home and took the scenic route southwest of Asheville (which added extra time to the trip) but allowed us to wend our way through some really gorgeous mountain scenery.

Now it's back to the grind until next weekend and another signing (this one here in Atlanta) at the Borders in Kennesaw. Let's hope it goes as well as the one in Asheville for that was one for the record books.