I genuinely like the people I meet at signings or the bits of public talking that I do.
One of the troubles with signings is that you are surrounded by children, and some of them have got colds.
Moms come up to me at book signings.
I am not going to get into it myself, except to say (1) if I am writing "boy fiction," who are all those boys with breasts who keep turning up by the hundreds at my signings and readings? and (2) thank you, geek girls! I love you all.
I'm friends with a lot of writers and so many of them say how much they hate signings and how they leave after a certain period of time. But what is so hard about sitting there while people tell you how much they love you? And if you don't like it, well, learn to like it. I try to take one person at a time. I never look down the line to see how many more people are left. And I always try to make people talk about something besides whatever they planned to say.
I've learned at the book signings that everyone has obstacles.
I always do book signings with the same blue pen. That way, if I add a personalised message to a book I've already signed, it'll be in the same colour as my signature.
I've signed peoples' parole cards at book signings and it's very touching.
I love the writers in Austin. We stick together. We all like each other and go to each other's book signings in case no one else shows up.
When people visit me at autograph conventions and signings, they always say, 'You just don't know how you scared me!' These people are grown up. They say, 'When I was a kid, I just couldn't sleep at night. ' Sometimes they will have babies with them. And they give me their babies, and they take pictures of me holding their baby.
