Lori here~
I had a booksigning on Friday night at Borders, which is my "home" store. We have a total of two new bookstores in Rapid City, and my next signing at the other one, Waldenbooks, is on December 15th.
I'll be honest; I usually sell a ton of books at these stores. The local support from Tammy, the bookstore manager, her store staff, and the readers is amazing. But Friday night was not my best signing. Which is ironic, because Shallow Grave is my best book in the Julie Collins series. I remember when I had my first solo signing there, I obsessed about what to wear (lucky skeleton earrings? Check) If I had enough purple pens. If I had enough bookmarks. If I should entice potential buyers over to my table with candy spilling out of my tabletop prop - a tattooed skull with open mouth. Results were I sold out of all 75 books that night in three hours. How did I recreate the magic?
I wasn't so frantic about this signing. Not cynical, mind you, I hope I never get to the ho-hum stage, because it is a thrill to know people are not only buying and reading these books, but collecting signed copies. In the car, on the way to the bookstore, running somewhat late for me, which means 20 minutes early, I realized I'd forgotten my WILLA Cather "winner" stickers for copies of Hallowed Ground. A cell phone call to our daughters and Mr. LGA set up a rendezvous point. I didn't check to see if I had pens. I sent Mr. LGA to Target to buy candy. It wasn't a disaster, because I was relaxed, and witty and charming to those brave souls who bucked the wind to attend, including an old boyfriend, which was way cool :) Afterward we went out for a drink with Tammy and her husband.
Then we realized we hadn't taken a single picture of me at the signing. No pictures seems to be a theme in our life of late. Does this third book suffer from third child syndrome?
Mr. LGA and I have three daughters. We have tons of pictures of Armstrong #1. We scrimped to purchase a video camera for Armstrong #2, so we captured those once-in-a-lifetime moments - you know, footage of child #2 licking the front steps after a rainstorm, riding her tricycle outside in her Little Mermaid underwear, while daughter #1 made off camera sarcastic commentary at age 3. Pics of first days of school. Pics of first violin recitals. Pics of Christmas. Birthdays. Saturdays at the lake. Pics of every damn thing you could imagine.
Then child #3 rolled around. Yes, we took pictures of her, but fewer pictures. Fewer pics of all three of them, actually. A fact which was driven home to us again this week when daughter #3 had a small vocal solo at her school holiday recital, and the rest of the parents around us whipped out cameras. All three of our daughters are longtime members of the Black Hills Suzuki School, and they played with the Black Hills Symphony this weekend. Not an Armstrong camera in sight. Heck our oldest daughter is freakin' concertmaster of the acclaimed Central High School Chamber Orchestra and we didn't get pics of her at the last concert. Nor did we snap shots of child #2 beating the crap out of opponents and winning five trophies at her last martial arts tournament.
Why?
At some point during this parenting experience, we realized we were living through those moments on film...and not in the actual moment.
Does that make us lazy? No. Forgetful? Sometimes.Tired of living as a slave to Kodak? Absolutely. Does it somehow make the memory less memorable if there isn't tangible proof you can file away in a photo album? Will it really matter if there isn't a pic of me smiling, pen in hand as I pretended to sign books?
Do you document every achievement, be it yours or a family member's?
PS--------Some folks commented they couldn't see the very cool video Jeff made, so here's the big news and official announcement:
"Former firearms industry professional Lori Armstrong's RITUAL SACRIFICES, the first in a new mystery series featuring an Army sniper who has returned home to run her family's South Dakota ranch, to Trish Lande Grader at Touchstone Fireside, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA)."
I had a booksigning on Friday night at Borders, which is my "home" store. We have a total of two new bookstores in Rapid City, and my next signing at the other one, Waldenbooks, is on December 15th.
I'll be honest; I usually sell a ton of books at these stores. The local support from Tammy, the bookstore manager, her store staff, and the readers is amazing. But Friday night was not my best signing. Which is ironic, because Shallow Grave is my best book in the Julie Collins series. I remember when I had my first solo signing there, I obsessed about what to wear (lucky skeleton earrings? Check) If I had enough purple pens. If I had enough bookmarks. If I should entice potential buyers over to my table with candy spilling out of my tabletop prop - a tattooed skull with open mouth. Results were I sold out of all 75 books that night in three hours. How did I recreate the magic?
I wasn't so frantic about this signing. Not cynical, mind you, I hope I never get to the ho-hum stage, because it is a thrill to know people are not only buying and reading these books, but collecting signed copies. In the car, on the way to the bookstore, running somewhat late for me, which means 20 minutes early, I realized I'd forgotten my WILLA Cather "winner" stickers for copies of Hallowed Ground. A cell phone call to our daughters and Mr. LGA set up a rendezvous point. I didn't check to see if I had pens. I sent Mr. LGA to Target to buy candy. It wasn't a disaster, because I was relaxed, and witty and charming to those brave souls who bucked the wind to attend, including an old boyfriend, which was way cool :) Afterward we went out for a drink with Tammy and her husband.
Then we realized we hadn't taken a single picture of me at the signing. No pictures seems to be a theme in our life of late. Does this third book suffer from third child syndrome?
Mr. LGA and I have three daughters. We have tons of pictures of Armstrong #1. We scrimped to purchase a video camera for Armstrong #2, so we captured those once-in-a-lifetime moments - you know, footage of child #2 licking the front steps after a rainstorm, riding her tricycle outside in her Little Mermaid underwear, while daughter #1 made off camera sarcastic commentary at age 3. Pics of first days of school. Pics of first violin recitals. Pics of Christmas. Birthdays. Saturdays at the lake. Pics of every damn thing you could imagine.
Then child #3 rolled around. Yes, we took pictures of her, but fewer pictures. Fewer pics of all three of them, actually. A fact which was driven home to us again this week when daughter #3 had a small vocal solo at her school holiday recital, and the rest of the parents around us whipped out cameras. All three of our daughters are longtime members of the Black Hills Suzuki School, and they played with the Black Hills Symphony this weekend. Not an Armstrong camera in sight. Heck our oldest daughter is freakin' concertmaster of the acclaimed Central High School Chamber Orchestra and we didn't get pics of her at the last concert. Nor did we snap shots of child #2 beating the crap out of opponents and winning five trophies at her last martial arts tournament.
Why?
At some point during this parenting experience, we realized we were living through those moments on film...and not in the actual moment.
Does that make us lazy? No. Forgetful? Sometimes.Tired of living as a slave to Kodak? Absolutely. Does it somehow make the memory less memorable if there isn't tangible proof you can file away in a photo album? Will it really matter if there isn't a pic of me smiling, pen in hand as I pretended to sign books?
Do you document every achievement, be it yours or a family member's?
PS--------Some folks commented they couldn't see the very cool video Jeff made, so here's the big news and official announcement:
"Former firearms industry professional Lori Armstrong's RITUAL SACRIFICES, the first in a new mystery series featuring an Army sniper who has returned home to run her family's South Dakota ranch, to Trish Lande Grader at Touchstone Fireside, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA)."
We forgot the camera at my book launch signing. It's the third book. Perhaps we are getting complacent about this? Oh, hell, it's just another book launch...
Not.
We just forgot the camera. Like we forget everything as we're running out the door.
Posted by: Karen Olson | December 03, 2007 at 12:51 PM
I deliberately don't take a camera to signings for which you may all be profoundly grateful.
Posted by: JDRhoades | December 03, 2007 at 03:43 PM
My husband is a filmmaker, and a great photographer so our (only) daughter's life is very much documented. As for the readings, he does take my picture, but I rarely look at the results and when I do, I wince. (I look like THAT when I read?! God.)
Posted by: AlisonGaylin | December 03, 2007 at 09:29 PM
We document a lot, but it's more with pix than with video. Mainly because we just always forget the video camera.
I kept a pretty good scrap book of the first yr when KS came out - pix, reviews, emails, etc. But after that, I just let it go. Not because I had any less appreciation, but just because you can't replicate the first time around.
Posted by: Jeff Shelby | December 04, 2007 at 08:56 AM