The Saving Grace of Good Friends Yet Again, and Great Ideas From Total Strangers - On the Road #24
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Hey y'all,
I’ve been hanging out with good friends in Bellingham and as nice as it is, not eventful, exciting, or eccentric enough to write about.
Isn't it odd how that works?
I also my first official event in the lower forty-eight Wednesday night at Village Books in Bellingham, and it was my biggest audience yet.
But I must say, I'm fast losing patience with the brick and mortar bookstores. So far, it's a lot of effort with very little reward. This was a gig set up by one of my best friends while I was careening around the Interior.
Just the kind of thing that keeps me motivated, you know? But being fortified with the support of Susan and Markis, I was going to feel like a rock star even if I fell flat on my face.
Village Books is an awesome venue, the best I've come across for doing my thing because they have a corner space with podium and folding chairs with funky brick columns and whatnot.
It has a very underground vibe to it.
They have readings every night, which brings with it a built in audience. I think that there were plenty of people who just come to the readings because it's free entertainment.
As the storytelling progressed, I had people showing up consistently, which felt gratifying.
Especially since they listened and didn't walk out...but I don't know, maybe I offended many with the concept of God and the Devil playing backgammon in Purgatory every Friday night.
Susan was the only one who laughed at all, and she even laughed in the right spots, but nobody joined in.
Except for her, I felt like I was surrounded by Puritans. Giving me the stare with their mouths clamped shut. Susan said the energy felt tense out there when I went into "Divorce of Vice and Virtue."
You would think Bellingham wouldn't be so uptight, but apparently not.
When I announced that the books were $9.95 and I'd be happy to sign copies, there was a mass exodus.
But two ladies, who had come in separately and on time, stayed behind.
Thank God I've had the experiences I've had - everything from selling spaghetti dinner tickets in my Catholic schoolgirl uniform (when I was a kid, that would be appalling now), to tending bar, to being a hiking guide for the illustrious Gastineau Guiding.
This event was the equivalent of the busload tourists who did NOT like me, and I did a couple of things any guide with a lick of sense would do.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
First, I focused only on the friendly faces in the audience. Then plowed ahead and let if roll off me like water off a duck's back.
I mean why torture myself? Besides my reward was quality, not quantity.
The two women who stayed behind and chatted with me and my friends both bought books, and it's always a reward to sell to total strangers because they got it because they liked what I did.
One of them, a introverted, young woman named Laura - one of those types who really takes in the world around them without giving anything away - gave me a great suggestion which I think might save my ass.
Because two books an event really sucks and I have 700 more books to move.
While chatting, I mentioned the complimentary tarot card reading I offered for those who bought books at certain fairs and festivals and she asked me if I really read tarot cards.
I said yeah, I make no pretensions to being a psychic, it was just a gimmick I did to sell the book.
Then she said she read tarot cards too, and traveled around the east coast doing readings at flea markets.
Flea markets? The light bulb went on in my head.
“Are the booths expensive?” I asked her.
“No,” she said. “They're really cheap.”
Doing my research on the Internet, there are flea markets everywhere!
And the rent is cheap....
I'll be at my first one in Seattle manana. Wish me luck!
Peace,
Montgomery
This letter was from a DIY booktour/roadtrip I did in 2005-2006. I had forgotten about this event, and how that went until I re-read this. Wow. Memories!