Sharon in the spotlight!
My anticipated October events are over. Whew! I am exhausted but had an amazing time. I wish all of you could have been with me. I was very blessed to share my appearances with some great friends, and now I will share a bit of it with the rest of you.
On Thursday, Oct. 22, I gave my first public speech – EVER! I was terrified. I did practice and had my notes prepared, but was still sweating bullets. Yet, as nervous as I was, it ended up being tremendous fun! I was speaking at the Hanford library for the Friends of the Library Author’s Chat. It was a tremendous honor to be invited to open this year’s season and I have to again thank Gail Lucas, Sherman Lee, Wilma Humason, and Sunny Frasier for their kindness.
I have never used a microphone in my life so that was an experience as the silly thing had to be held precisely perpendicular and an inch from my mouth. So weird and yes my arms did get very tired. Nevertheless, once I got warmed up and accustomed to the strangeness of it, I had a great time chatting about my journey and my philosophy in writing this Saga. Every face in the audience was riveted to my words, nodding frequently, smiling, laughing when I hoped they would, and seemed to be happy to be there. I spoke for about 25 minutes or so then opened it to questions. That went on for about 30 minutes with loads of really great questions. I had so much fun!
Yosemite Romance Writers gals
Afterwards I signed books for a bunch of people and had the opportunity to meet some lovely folks. My family was there supporting me, and so were a group of my romance writer pals from the Yosemite Romance Writer’s. I was also delighted to meet my new friend Maggie face-to-face. She is a fan who lives in Visalia, only recently realizing I lived in the area! How cool is that? Her hubby got a great photo of me signing Maggie’s copies of my novels and I had to snag it. Thanks Maggie! Can’t wait to see you again. A nursing buddy I haven’t seen in several years stopped in to say hi and buy a few books. Penni, love ya! And then there is Jessica, a local hopeful writer who snuck in quietly and was too shy to say Hi but wrote me a note afterwards – Jessica, I pray we can get together someday soon.
All in all I feel it was a raging success and I think I could now give another speech without nearly dying of fright!
Saturday found me at the Barnes & Noble in Citrus Heights for a joint book signing. I was one of 6 romance novelists, including fellow Sourcebooks’ writer Loucinda McGary, and a number of other local area writers. It was fantastic! I have to give a huge thanks to Mike Troyan, the manager of the B&N, for arranging it all so amazingly well and for being a fabulous guy. I wish I had gotten a photo of him! Drat it all! He really was terrific. The event was a fund raiser for the Orangevale public library in conjunction with their Friends of the Library association and I do hope they made a killing.
Sharon with Loucinda McGary
I spent 4 hours sitting among interesting people, visiting with my Casablanca Sister Auntie Cindy, and chatting with a ton of curious readers. This was probably the busiest B&N I have ever been in. I couldn’t believe the traffic! I was blessed to have a few fans from the area pop in to have their books signed – so cool!
But I have to say the surprise of the day was when I heard my name called and looked up to see my dear friend Kathy from the Matthew Macfadyen Topix forum who drove all the way from San Francisco just to see me! I was so overwhelmed that I nearly cried! We haven’t seen each other since our wonderful excursion to LA with our Scottish friend May to watch a private showing of Frost/Nixon last year. Wow! I am still in shock and only wish we had had more time to visit. Kathy, I love you forever, my dear!
So there you have it. My adventures in the limelight! Now I am back to the real world. LOL! I have no further signings lined up at this time or any public appearances. I’ll be sure to post anything on the website, I promise.
Haha yes that sounds perfect Steve!
Sharon knows how much I adore Darcy & Lizzy, but I must admit I am itching to read more much more from my fav author hehehe. All in good time, you cannot rush great things. Patience is a virtue. I just get excited wondering what else your future holds Sharon!
I’m so glad Steve captured this moment on DVD! You may cringe (just a little) only cause you’re a perfectionist hehe, you may laugh a little, but overall what a great way to learn. From what you’ve told us in your passage sounds like you had a blast and enjoyed every moment. With your passion for writing and your work it makes it easy to talk about. Congratulations once again dear friend!
Love always
TSBO devotee
Vee
Oh Vee! I wish you could have come too! But only because I am terribly selfish and want to see you! Someday, mate, someday. 🙂
I am going to get a DVD of the whole thing. Should be soon. I am anxious to watch it, even if it makes me cringe, as the entire night passed in a blur. Not sure if I will be able to make it accessible to view. I’ll try to figure something out.
You are very kind and a great friend. I hope I can continue to bring more of my writings to you and the rest. Time will tell, but I intend to keep on as best I can!
I think she should do fantasy,maybe a fantasy love story….for many many years thats what shes read,Tolkien at 12….
Sharon this is awesome! Thank you for sharing all the lovely pics and exciting moments with us. I certainly wish I could have cheered you on from a little bit closer than Oz. You were obviously in very good company though! You fit in perfectly with all the wonderful authors!
What an amazing moment amongst many. Your first speech! I hope your gorgeous hubby taped it! You were obvoulsy destined to be where you are right now Sharon and I congratulate you on the success and joy this brings you and your family!
Writing is so much fun, but to get the right blend of words and ideas together to form an amazingly captivating story is something not many can do, certainly not the way you have Sharon . Your talent was lying in wait for this time to be sure. I am so glad you followed your heart and dreams and created this brilliant Saga. But I can also imagine there will be many many variety of books to come from my fav author which I look forward to reading in the future!
I am thrilled you got to catch up with lots of great friends and fans! And had wonderful support from your author pals and of course the devotion and love from your gorgeous family. You all look handsome and beautiful respectively.
Wishing you loads more happiness and success dear friend.
Love always
TSBO devotee
Vee
Thanks for sharing Dominique’s story, honey. She is awesome and I am so honored to be a part of her team AND to know her personally! Surreal.
Kathy, I am still reeling over seeing you! It was the highlight of my day in Sac. Thanks for keeping me informed on the P&P happenings. What would I do without you and May?
Maggie, Hope you don’t mind me stealing your photo, but it was just too good. See you soon, promise.
Not sure about any other signings, but I will keep you all informed. And Susanne, if I EVER get to Europe I will let you know well in advance!
One question that came up that was great, a very nice High School teacher asked, about how you go about writing? Do you recommend classes? Sharon said although nothing wrong with learning the mechanics… but you have to write from your heart. Which is so true.
She also got to mention another interesting point that many may not know: the owner of Sourcebooks, Dominique Raccah, has the distinction of heading up the largest independently owned publishing house in the U.S. Its the largest female owned company in the U.S.
In 1987, a determined Dominique Raccah left a promising career with advertising giant Leo Burnett, cashed in $17,000 from her 401K plan and launched a publishing house from her upstairs bedroom in Naperville, Illinois. She called it Sourcebooks.
Over the years, Sourcebooks has grown and flourished by following its independent vision, and by publishing extraordinary authors and unique books with readers in mind. Noted for its strong publicity and marketing efforts on behalf of its authors and retailers, Sourcebooks stands today as one of the leading independent book publishers in North America.
How lovely!! Looks like your signing was a great success. I am thrilled for you Sharon!
Very nice family shot too! 🙂
PS: Wonderful picture of you, Steve, Emily and Kyle! Thanks again for sharing.
Esther
Hi Sharon!
What a wonderful experience you just had and thank you for sharing it with us! Congratulations on your speaking engagement; I knew you’d do a fantastic job. See, something new to add to your many great accomplishments!
The pictures you shared with us are just wonderful. Makes me feel as if I was there in some shape or form watching you charm the many fans that were there.
I am so happy for you and so proud of you with all your accomplishments. You never gave up; even after so many misgivings, from the not so kind people. Bravo!! Cudos to you dear friend! You deserve basking in your glory!
Take care and God Bless and enjoy your birthday today.
Love,
Esther
Sharon,
I think that you better get used to being in the limelight !I’m predicting that this is only the beginning!! I wish I could have been at the Barnes and Noble signing, it looks like it was fun! What a fun surprise to see my picture on your website. You are such a sweetie!! Can’t wait to get together again when we can really chat!! Congratulations on all the success! Enjoy every minute, because you really deserve it!!!
I turned around and there was Kathy SF… wow that was a treat. Your a great friend to Sharon and to drive all that way, pop in,hang out for awhile and then drive back….how awesome is that!!!!!! Your the best.
Hi there Sharon!
I was so happy to visit you but sorry for the little notice and time we had! We will get together soon, because we have things to discuss!
You are an inspiration to me and I know many others with what you have accomplished! This is only the beginning, too! 😉
Many Hugs and it was a great to see you and Steve and to meet your son!
Love,
Kathy
xx
btw, did you see that Keira and Joe are at it again? This time, My Fair Lady!
Dear Sharon!
This is absolutely fantastic! great! wonderful!
Congratulations to you! No one or nothing could stop your success by now. Two public appearances and a book signing in a Barnes & Noble, you really made it!!
I only wish I could see you one day presenting your books. Maybe one day you´ll be doing Europe? Who knows.
All the pictures look great! It seems that you are born for it!
Lots of love to you,
Susanne