Bookmarks Festival this past weekend in Winston-Salem

I attended the annual book festival in Winston-Salem this weekend. The weather was a little too hot to be perfect, but I can't complain because it didn't rain. Here's a shot of the WS Writers table.

I was taking the picture, so I'm not in it. But I got a chance to sell my books there from noon to one. I sold a few and had some great conversations.

I stopped in at the outdoor stage and heard a few authors speak, including Frances Mayes, who wrote Under The Tuscan Sun.

She told a story about how her book became a film. She said it was good luck, because she ran into a producer while shopping for wine in Italy who told her to contact him. Of course, the book was already well known by that time, so it wasn't all luck.

I also attended a workshop with J.A. Jance, a very successful mystery writer with about 50 titles in print. I had never read her work, so before the workshop I checked out a few audio versions from our local library, all from her Ali Reynolds series. I loved the way she manages to mix everyday problems such as issues having to do with sexually promiscuous children or unfaithful spouses with mysteries that have to do with psycho murderers and drug cartels. In her class she spoke about incorporating events from day to day life into her stories, so my impression was right on. One of the main reasons I was there was to check my methods for getting the word out about my books against the methods used by someone who had succeeded in that area. I'm doing the things she suggested, so now it's a matter of keeping up the work. We'll see what happens.