After several days of co-habitating with a low-intensity virus which left me tired and headachy, I got it together for my book signing at the Firefighters Swap Meet at Mundelein High School. I've been doing the Swap Meet for three years and I didn't want to break my stride. I was worried on four accounts::
1) Had the majority of EMTs and firefighters who frequent the fire fighting equipment antiques fair already purchase autographed copies of my Chicago-based suspense novel Deadly Choices?
2) Would the other vendors be decked out in Halloween costumes or those shirts with the cute little pumpkins or scary black cats? I hadn't had the time or energy to drum up a costume.
3) Should I make a touchy/feely bag with gross things to touch as folks walked by my table?
4) Was one bag of candy plus a tupperware container of homemade chocolate chip cookies enough to lay out on my table?
All that worrying took up the early part of Saturday morning. By the time I arrived at the High School, it was 10:00 a.m. -- would have been there earlier but for a McDonalds sausage biscuit and pancakes attack --and the event was scheduled to close up at 1:30 p.m.
Sure enough, there were different people here from last year and the year before. Heard some great EMT stories for my next book. The Citizens' Fire Academy polo shirt I sported produced more interest than if I'd worn a costume. None of the other vendors dressed in costume. My homemade chocolate chip cookies made a better hit than my individual chocolate bars -- in fact a 7-year-old girl waved the chocolate away and told me she was "pacing" herself for trick-or-treating later that day! She then proceeded to rearrange my Halloweend doo-dads on the table, but that's another story!
Due to lack of time, planning, and energy, I'd foregone the gross touchy/;feeling bag. Nobody was worse for wear on that one! All in all, it just goes to show: We can't orchestrate every moment in life. Sometimes we just have to sit back and let life unfold How was your Halloween??
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