GREAT FUN at the Humonginormous Book signing

Okay. I had so much fun at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota book signing. I met tons of great people, and just being a part of this record-breaking event gives me giggling goosebumps. The pic above is a huge digital screen that was above one of the two stages that hosted a panel of authors. You should have seen me trying to get that picture. It scrolled alphabetically. When I got there, it was on the H's. I turned on my camera, zoomed in, got ready, and waited. I waited through Hake, Harter, Hauck, Henke, Hickey, Hill, Hinck, Hochstetler, Hunt, Hunter, Johnson, Jones, Kinnard, Klassen. . .and then. . .MY CAMERA SHUT DOWN! I fumbled with the on button, squeezed the zoom lever, pointed and clicked--all in two seconds. It was a miracle that I got it so clear!

This is my table. I'm giving a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble for the closest person to guess how many seashells are in my jar. Clever, huh? That's colorful salt water taffy in the basket. Can you guess my theme? (Of course you can! My readers are smart!) I had 42 people guess my seashells, and I feel I made at least 50 friends as I talked to people walking by. BTW, I heard that the Mall of America had a record attendance that day. It looked like Christmas! And I'm sure it was because of the publicity that went out locally. What a testament to those shoppers that day!

And, here I am. Author Harry Kraus took this picture with my camera. He was to my right, and we tag teamed to draw people near. He had a basket full of chocolate. . .the good kind. Reeses, KitKats, fun candy! He would tell passersby that if they came to talk to him, they could have some candy. I only got worried when he said that to four teenage girls walking by. Yeah. They kept walking. But most people talked to him, then scooted over to me, or vice-versa. It was great!

Aside from the fun of getting to be a part of this event, I felt it a privilege to be light in a dark world with so many like-minded authors. I pray that we not only introduced Christian fiction to those who didn't know we existed, but that there were some who were introduced to our Jesus that day.