On Saturday afternoon, I gave my first reading of Dear Isabelle at the San Francisco Public Library bookstore.
It's a very difficult thing to decide which part of the book to choose for a reading. Do I choose the beginning, the middle? Certainly not the end! And how many pages should I even read? My dear friends Ann & Laurie gave me the advice that I should pretend the book is a movie and then imagine which part would make for an interesting movie trailer! "Think about the parts of your book that has the least dialogue and the most action." It was very helpful advice and so I ended up choosing the scene surrounding the church fire (end of chapter 11 and beginning of chapter 12). It worked beautifully! There was plenty of dramatic build-up and enough spooky images to keep the audience from falling asleep!
Once my reading was over however, I got terribly nervous all over again. Thankfully, the delightful staff at the SF library bookstore were so kind that I was able to make it through the Q&A session. Questions are always interesting for an author because you never quite know what to expect, but they are tremendously easier than just babbling on all by yourself about the book!
Many thanks to the SF library bookstore staff and especially to Rand for giving me the opportunity to share Dear Isabelle.
