Book Tour: Day 1 recap

  Whew doggie have these past 48 hours been a whirlwind of awesome! 
  I plan to keep you updated throughout the week on how the book tour is going - both for friends interested in hearing about the experiences, and for other indies who might read this someday, kind of like I studied Hugh Howey and Joe Konrath's archives. (Yes, I'm reaching high again, but you expect that of me, right?)
  Before the recap, check out the poster to the right for all relevant information about tonight's meet up. I'll be at Thorntown Public Library tonight at 6:00 p.m. to give a little talk, (about 30 minutes), answer questions, then sell and sign books. Hope to see you tonight!

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  Recap time!

  Kicked off my first book tour at my old elementary school. My sixth grade teacher had asked me to come in for Career Day! I couldn't have been more stoked. I felt like Russell Crowe in 'A Beautiful Mind' walking into class, grinning, and saying, 'This will be my first class...Hello, eager young minds of tomorrow."

  I caught up with a few teachers, signed their copies of Salted, and caught up with my old wrestling coach and friend, Mr. Barker. I've known him all my life since we went to church together. I'm not sure if they stationed me in his room because of our familiarity or our like-minded interests, but I felt like I belonged, especially when I noticed was his crates of comic books. What a great way to spark interest in reading, right? I would've loved to be a student in that class! 
  The kids were great and asked fantastic questions. Pretty sure they were more interested in that I worked on The Dark Knight than anything else. Can't say I blamed them. The movie is fantastic! 

 After six sessions with 5th and 6th graders, I left for a private school in Westfield that abides by the Montessori educational approach. 
  I'm always the last to hear about all things cool. Again, this should surprise none of you. Mr. Wissman, a fellow RA from my BSU days, was kind enough to show me around and teach me more about this fantastic teaching/learning method. 
  After meeting the students and talking about Salted, voice, writing, and publishing, we opened the session up for questions.

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  You want to talk about engagement? Wow! I worked in management consulting for over six years and executives I met would've fallen over themselves at these students. Nearly all had questions for me and approached me after to shake my hand, say thanks, and even talk about their own writing endeavors.
  I cannot say enough how impressed I was, not only by all the students I met yesterday, but the teachers I interacted with. Truly fantastic individuals.
  After bidding adieu to the students and staff, I came home for a cat nap. Then, my sister helped me stack these bad boys and take a couple snapshots in answer to those of you asking if I would have books available for sale.

  My brother and my Dad repacked the books to allow me time to respond to a few emails and ready for the Lebanon Library meet up. As weird as it is to say, I was a bit nervous driving in. This is my hometown library and even though I was certain I'd recognize most of the crowd, it's still a bit intimidating to stand in front of an audience like that and give a talk. 
  Luckily, familiar faces greeted me. 

  My old buddy from our pep session days was among the first in attendance. He graciously took this photo of me outside the library.
  I don't know if most authors experience this, but I found myself praying people would show up before the event kicked off. 
  They did. ;)

  I saw former classmates, the group I ran around town with back in the good ole' days, family, and even a young aspiring writer who had amazing questions for me!
   Wanna know how many books were sold yesterday? 53! 
 For those of you keeping tally, that's a 1/4 of the books I ordered for the tour. Not too shabby for a first day, eh? ;)