written road blog

Steve's Books, Tulsa, OK
Book Sales: 19
Reading attendees: 0

Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi ( I just love spelling that out!)
Book Sales: 60+
Signing attendees: 2

Hey, I don' care! Sand in My Bra is selling like hotcakes and that's all that matters. I had a great time at Steve's. They are known for their milkshakes and I had a chocolate one. The friendly staff was sorry that no one showed up, but they did have the fair on. And Rush Limbaugh's brother was having a reading in town later that night. But they sold six earlier in the week from having the book out, sold 2 that I signed for people who couldn't make it, and had me sign ten more that they knew they could sell. And they probably had another ten to fifteen copies on top of that.

As for Square Books...it just might be the coolest book store and town I visit on the whole trip. I will have to tell you more about this later. But for the details, it was a noon reading with cheese, crackers, grapes and cider. I didn't sit much in the fancy armchairs, but instead chatted up nearly every staff member in the store. The topics ranged from agents to marriage to teenage daughters, and I was having a blast! The couple that did come in bought three books and told me about the wife's upcoming trip to Africa. She wore a special African dress to the signing and was leaving the next day. I really had a great time here. Lisa and Richard, the owners, bought three books. And they had sold 33 in the previous six weeks leading up to the event. They were worried that they would sell out before the event so put in another order. I signed their remaining stock and headed up to Memphis.

As for Memphis, I'm being thoroughly spoiled by Royal Stewart and Hugh at Midtown Books. Lots of stories to come!

Friday was a much better day. About a dozen hours of driving from Santa Fe, NM to Oklahoma City, OK. The Indian casinos have slowly dwindled down. And the sage brush has turned to flat green lots with the round hay bushels. Haven't really seen any of those old red barns I like, but it's still good to be under a great wide sky. Midwest sunsets are hard to beat.