I had a lot of fun participating in the Local Authors Roundtable for Alaska Book Week at the Haines Library last night. I attended from Washington state via videoconference. My friend and neighbor, Dan Henry, joined from Oregon. We were talking heads on a monitor, along with six other local authors (I think I have that count right). Michelle estimated that about 20 people attended.
Being on screen and having a slight delay between what I said and what the audience heard, I didn’t talk very much. Interjecting comments wouldn’t have gone very well—timing is, after all, everything. Still, I had a place at the table, as it were, and I loved hearing my neighbors’ take on writing in Alaska.
Luckily, my sister, Beth, had just participated in a videoconference job interview, so she set up my lighting, got me seated at the right level for my Web cam, and gave me a few tips. Her Internet speed seems lightning fast compared to our “homestead’s” satellite connection. I guess I glitched slightly a few times, but nothing crucial. I didn’t come off like Max Headroom, thankfully.
Unfortunately, only my first book, Shy Ghosts Dancing: Dark Tales from Southeast Alaska can be found in the stacks at the library. They have a copy of Sacred Coffee: A “Homesteader’s” Paradigm, but it hasn’t been shelved yet. Michelle took a copy of the Sacred Coffee audiobook CD to the event and passed it around with the other authors’ books.
As usual, I have a couple of regrets. If I’d been there, I would have asked the other authors a lot of questions. More importantly, I would have loved to thank everyone who sells my books in Haines: The Babbling Book, Alaska Rod’s, the Sheldon Museum gift shop, and the Eagle Foundation gift shop. Hopefully, they’re all seeing some business today, as you’ll find books by most or all of the authors who met last night in those shops. Autumn’s here! Time to curl up with a good book or two.