The official book launch for Accordion Dreams was Friday, at The Booksmith in San Francisco.  I survived! I even enjoyed it.

I was making myself a little crazy with the preparations, I now realize. Re-read my book over 2 days, earlier in the week. That part was smart. (To my great surprise, it  didn't seem half bad!)  Put little stickies by likely passages to read out loud. But then I had too many.

I re-read everything I had about bookstore readings. Tried to have realistic expectations. Reminded myself of all the dire stories of low turn outs, even for the famous. Here's the best one: A prominent author had 3 people show. After the reading, 2 were arrested. Turned out they'd just escaped from prison. 

Then, the night before, I sat down with my husband, to figure out what tunes we were going to play. (Me on accordion, Steve on guitar or fiddle.) Then I started fretting about how to artfully weave them in to the reading, the chatting.  I won't even get into my wardrobe worries!

Then I reminded myself of probably the best advice I read: people who go to an author event don't expect a synopsis of the book, and they probably don't want to listen to you read for long stretches. They just want an experience that will give them a feel for you and your book.  They should come away with something. Maybe your book, maybe not, but something positive. So I figured I could manage that.  It's not so different from what I do when our band plays.  (And heaven knows, I'm used to putting on a good face when there is a low turnout!)

Weather was terrible on Friday, naturally.  Cold, raining.  And another big literary event was going on in the city. I knew no one would come to see an unknown author with a book from a university press. Then my husband got lost, driving from his work to the BART station where he was going to meet me.   He was in a bad mood, which didn't help mine.  We took a few wrong turns on the way to the bookstore.  I'd already been warned: parking is impossible. 

But then it all fell into place. We got there early, found parking right in front.  Discovered a nice restaurant 2 doors down for a light pre-dinner and a glass of wine. (This was in the Haight, no less.)

I give a lot of the credit to Thomas Gladysz, the longtime events coordinator at Booksmith.  A real class act, as they say. Helped us haul our instruments in, put me at ease.  When the time came, he gave a great introduction.  When I forgot something during the presentation, he tactfully reminded me.  Doesn't your band have a date coming up?  Wasn't there something about CDs you're giving out?  (If you have a chance to do a book event with Thomas:  run, don't walk, in his direction!) 

A few people came early.  I resolved to just chat with them, have a good time. People kept trickling in. At the end, there were around 17-18, I'd guess. Okay, 4 were music friends, including the bass player and former drummer in my band. But no one was a blood relative.  A really lovely crowd. Everyone was interested, attentive.

It all worked. I even liked the sound of my own words. What a shock! After, I signed 5 books. (A decent number, according to Thomas).  I tried hard to write my name legibly with the lovely new pen one of my kids just gave me for my birthday. 

What a relief to have it over! I'm even ready to do it again :-)