Back from the Books by the Bay Festival

Hello everyone, and a big welcome to my new subscribers! Well, Books by the Bay was a big hit! Pensacola is such a beautiful city. I met a lot of cool people, and the really cool part is that they are all readers! (Which is to be expected at a book fair.) I sold lots of books and gave out plenty of bookmarks, stickers, and candy. AND many folks took me up on my free Kindle copy of AlCent Sagas: Book One – Formation. I’m already seeing Kindle sales for the rest of the series. Try before you buy!

I also met a few people I met previously at the Amelia Island Book Fair. (They always recognize me from the spacesuit!) But I think the biggest win of all, the one that made the rest possible, is that the weather behaved the whole day! The wind was fresh, but it never rained. (We were watching the radar all day and the rain would approach the city and just fizzle out.) It was my first event with the tent canopy and I had it secured with weights and guy wires. It shook a little but never moved. Success! We had rain all the way home the next day, but I didn’t mind it a bit.

While sitting down to write this post I realized that I never gave a follow up report on the Amelia Island Book Fair. That was a big hit as well. I met a lot of awesome people and sold many books. I really love going to the cons, especially the science fiction themed cons, but the percentage of book lovers is much higher at the book fairs. (But there are a lot more interesting photos to take at the cons.) I’ll be in Tarpon Springs, FL for another book fair at the end of the month. It will also be an outdoor event so keep your fingers crossed for the weather.

And for those of you who were asking, the house repairs from hurricane Helene are all done! I was hoping to be getting back to my usual hard driving writing schedule, but in light of last year’s storm surge, we have decided to move inland. Helene was the third surge event in 10 years and the worst by far. Last year we had to leave a con in Georgia early because of the threat of TS Debby. I need to be able to work and travel without the threat of inundation. So now I will have to spend my time getting the house ready for sale, finding a new place, and actually moving instead of cranking out more books. BUT, the gears in my mind are never idle so I am still doing a lot of thinking, research, and note taking so that when I’m finally able to get back down to business I’ll be off like a shot!

Below I’ve added some photos of the event. I will definitely be coming back next year! I promise I’ll be doing another normal post very soon, now that I’m not so harried and tired all the time. Until then, happy reading!