Talk about busy days with new people and old friends dropping by to chat! For the sixth year running, Larry and I again had our booth at the prestigious Texas Library Association Conference. One of the largest literary conferences in the US, this year it was held at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas on April 15th –18th. Our booth, designed with, of course, a Medieval/ Renaissance theme, drew crowds of fans and friends and we were busy non-stop. We loved it!
Luckily we love to meet and greet for this is one of the best places to meet and greet just about anyone interested in books, the arts and literature. And, for us, a wonderful chance to give big hugs and hellos and to catch up with old friends like Roz Eyre, District Librarian and all the wonderful ladies of Beaumont, Lisa Youngblood and the amazing Sheridan of Harker Heights, Maureen Jones and Patricia Essig of the Dallas Public Library and countless other librarian friends from across Texas who walked across that enormous conference exhibit hall floor to visit us.
We signed copies of our book, “The Ghost of Hampton Court’, talked with many people from across the country in all facets of the publishing industry. It was so great to see so many fellow authors and arts in education performers there like the hilarious Dianne de las Casas, Consuelo Samarripa, Donna Ingham, Mark Mitchell, Toni Simmons, Teddy Award winning Helen Hemphill, Brian Anderson and children’s book sports genre aficionado, Dan Gutman – the baseball man with a plan!
Our fun book ‘accessories’ were a big hit at our booth including the Librarian and Shakespearean Action Figures, as was Rose Williams book, ‘Gods and Other Odd Creatures’. And, everyone loves the Shakespeare Insult Gum.
And, of course, when you get me talking (like that takes some convincing) you’re going to hear a few Medieval jokes. Yeah, twist my arm… So, we talked a bit of business with quite a few people (it was wonderful to see so many people interested in our Creative Writing E-Book workshop), I told a lot of my medieval jokes and we laughed and smiled for three days running. We’re already looking forward to next year’s conference in Houston. And by then I’ll have my Medieval joke book, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Joust’. So drop by next year for some new jokes!