Book signings and the authors who do them

Last night I went to my first ever author's reading/signing.  Even though I am an aspiring author and life-long writer, I have never attended one of these before.  I read books, so why do I need the author to read a chapter to me?  And surely I know they're writing process from interviews and blogs, so what could I learn from a Q&A session?

But Elizabeth Kostova was different.  I have read The Historian three and a half times.  As I told her last night while she penned her name in my first edition, it is my comfort book.  When I am out of new titles and nothing else appeals, I open this fifty-pound book and drift into its beautifully imagined, gothic world.

Will I attend every book signing I come across?  No.  Did I learn much about the writing process?  No.  I did learn a lot about this author, and I find her even more fascinating than before, perhaps even more interesting for what I did not learn.

I will turn out for my author friends' signings!  So please do not hesitate to tell me about them!  Sitting beside me last night was a couple slightly older than my parents.  The man was wearing a gold ring that looked strikingly familiar.  I kept stealing glances until I finally had to ask his wife, "Did your husband go to Rice University?"  It turne out he had, like eight people going back to my grandfather's generation in my family.  And she had attended University of Houston, where my father achieved his Masters in Architecture.  This gentleman was James E. Crisp, history professor at NC State and author of Sleuthing the Alamo.  Crisp has another book coming out titled How Did Davy Die? and, for all you mystery buffs, his wife tells me he has received some "death threats" from those quite unhappy with his reinvestigating history.  A little controversy is always good for selling books, but I met the man and he is nothing if not polite and reverential to history and literature.

Aaahh, well, you have wasted another perfectly good minute reading my blog.  Go write!