Okay, so the Book Expo America event wasn't what I expected. I thought the environment would be conducive for networking. Rather, it was a bunch of industry people who were done for the day and wanted to get together and let loose, which I guess after being on the floor at the Javits Center all day, they were entitled to some down time.
But, I met up with my publicist, Ella Curry, which was nice. She hoped that I would meet a lot of people, but again, the vibe in the room wasn't lending to that. But she did introduce me to a couple of ladies who head their own book clubs. I gave them each a copy of my novel. I also met Michelle Gipson who has an online magazine called Written Magazine, and Phill Branch, a contributing writer to that magazine and filmmaker. Both were very nice. I look forward to seeing them again. So the moral to this is that while I didn't part with, nor gain a hundred business cards, I did meet who I was intended to meet. And as a result, my book was featured in Michelle's magazine alongside some other really great authors. I visualized meeting about three people that I felt would be meaningful to meet and it came to pass. My one regret is that I didn't go to the Javits Center because if I had, I would have seen J. Randy Taraborrelli, who was doing book signing for his biography of Marilyn Monroe, which incidentally coincided with the premier of a Lifetime movie about Marilyn that he was also involved with. I met Randy for the first time back in 2006. He was in NYC on a media blitz for his Elizabeth Taylor biography. Then, a year later, I was invited to his home for an end-of-summer party. Had a very good time. So,it would have been very nice to see him again, and had I known he was there, I definitely would've stayed in Manhattan longer to do so.
Now, I've been working as a full-time writer for three months, and I love it! I love getting up in the morning, kissing the spouse goodbye and having my two cups of coffee. Then, I get much of what could distract me out of the way so I can devote my time to writing my third book. Admittedly, it took some time to get used to the flow of my day, and not allow those distractions to blow my entire day. But now, I've reached a point where I'm feeling productive. And I can smile because I'm living my dream. I said that I wanted to be a writer who worked from home, and while the opportunity did not present itself in the way that i thought it would, it did present itself, and for that I'm grateful!
