My First Nubs' Signing

The great display at the bookstore

Saturday night was such fun! Thankfully, the thunderstorms abated a bit so the store full of attendees didn't get soaked coming for my first official Nubs' signing event. If you ever have the chance to do an event at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, do it! Cheryl McKeon and Judy Hobbs will not only treat you like royalty, they might even bake cookies! Saturday night's were bone shapes. No photos, alas, because they were chomped up so fast.

Winston and I had our first therapy dog training session right before so I was a little flustered getting there and getting things set up. But with the help of friendly audience members (thanks, Bren!) I was soon in business, telling about how Mary and I came to write Nubs. When I read the story aloud, I did hear a few sniffles but thankfully they weren't mine! That was the first time I'd been able to read the story myself without choking up.
Signing away!

The first slide in my presentation was of Mary and me, at ALA this past summer, and I'd captioned it "Two Good Friends." As I looked out over the audience, I realize how many good friends I am blessed with -- parents of my dearest friends from junior high were there, yoga class buddies,
Yoga class buds

writing buddies, friends from our old church, from the Whidbey MFA program, me with Grier Jewell and Stephanie Lile, writers extradordinaire!

from book club talks. . .and friends I hadn't met yet! It was a lovely, lovely evening and another reminder that when two good friends write books together about the power of love and friendship, amazing things can happen.
Some of the long, long line. . . I signed for an hour!
An old, familiar face
Two adorable new Nubs' fans!

One of the features of my talk and signing was partnering with Homeward Pets. Volunteers brought two dogs in need of new homes. I didn't get to meet the other cutie (a chihuahua-corgi mix!) but did cozy up with this charmer. The good news is that by the end of the evening, it looked like both dogs had prospective new homes.

Rocky is the sweetest Pit bull I've ever met. . but he wasn't much for the "pawparazzi"