I survived! Am I Done Yet?

Let's start with the pleasant view from the hotel room. Very nice.

The view the other way reminds me I'm still in the city. Despite the fact that I've become rather anti-crowd and anti-concrete over the years, I always feel at ease in a major city. They're pretty much all the same and they always remind me of "home" (NYC), so I feel pretty comfortable whenever I find myself in one. I've been glad not to have to deal with traffic here though, because like most cities, there's lots of road construction going on screwing things up.

Before I headed out yesterday, I made sure that I was all layered up. Long johns? Check! It's actually been really mild here (in the 50s), but I was more worried about getting cold in the conference center.

When was the last time I used one of these...what do you call them...oh yeah...irons?

I walked out of my room and, what's this? A newspaper. I can't remember the last time I saw one of these at my doorstep either.

I'm taking advantage of the money-back program the hotel offers if I don't have the room cleaned every day (I'm not a slob and I think washing the towels/sheets every day is stupid), so I've racked up a whole $10 so far - I might just be able to afford an orange juice.




Then it was off to grab the free shuttle to the boat show. Looks like most expos. And the crowd looked like most boat show crowds.



First up was signing a few books. Now I have to admit that I thought I'd just be sitting somewhere while people who couldn't wait to read Idiots sauntered up to me and excitedly asked for my autograph. I was brought back to reality, when I realized that, in fact, I would be handing out cards explaining my book and letting them know I'd be conducting a # of seminars. I was going to have to approach people and sell myself. Noooo!! Can't I just text people?

I stood at the book booth feeling like an idiot when the folks from the book store offered me a glass of champagne. Don't mind if I do.

I still felt stupid, but I managed to convince about 6 people to buy my book. I did have one ego moment when a woman was walking around with a list of books she wanted and mine was on it. She was all excited when I happened to be there to sign it. I enjoyed meeting Jimmy Cornell too (who didn't have to beg people to buy his books).

I then went back to the hotel to go through my presentation one more time and try to calm myself down before the next event. While there, I checked on a package that was supposed to be waiting for me from the publisher (more handouts). I got a very pleasant surprise when I had two packages waiting for me (and the Fed-X person waived the $10 pick up charge - really?!). One included the dreaded handouts, but the other one was from my main publisher contact (the one that's been holding my hand since the beginning of the entire process). Tights to keep me warm and candy that I could either eat myself or hand out to bribe people to buy my book. So far, I've been eating them. She also wrote me a really touching card - so now I was ready for my presentation.  Ha, not really, but I did feel supported.

What is it about public speaking that terrifies so many people? It's such an irrational fear, really. So are many people's fears, but this one seems particularly ridiculous. I mean, we talk to people, strangers even, every day. But put more than 5 of them in front of you staring at you expectantly and you've got a deer in the headlights. Some performers never get over their fear, throwing up before every show for years. How is it I have no problem spilling my guts on the blog for all to read, but make me say it out loud and I want to run screaming from the room? I'm proud to say I didn't do that though (run screaming). And much to my surprise, no one else did either. Check out the sign announcing me. See the error? The badge on the woman helping the speakers had "seminar" spelled wrong too. Does no one use editors/proof readers anymore? Don't they get that little red squiggly line under the misspelled word like I do? Oh well, at least my name was spelled right.

I ended up with a fan club of 6 people in the front row. Three from the Toronto area and three who drove all the way up from Syracuse - (5 known from St. Kitts, and 1 stranger who didn't know what she was in for).



I had an audience of maybe 30 people (more came after I took that above photo), which I thought was respectable, and most looked like they were interested. I kept thinking over and over again to speak slowly (or at least what I consider slow), and even managed to keep from panicking when two of my slides turned out to be corrupted. When I was done, I asked if there were any questions and then stood there for what seemed like very long minutes wondering why no one was saying anything, but not leaving either. Aw-kward. (I was later informed that it was not minutes but just a few seconds. Really? Because it seemed a lot longer). But then someone reminded me that I mentioned expanding on a crazy event that happened in Antigua - they wanted to hear it. So I launched into the funny story and it was a real hit. Hey - they're laughing and it's not even at me. A few more questions, another awkward moment as no one seemed to want to leave, and then I walked outside and into a line of people that were buying my book and wanting me to sign it. Cool! There really are a lot of people who want to do what we did and I always love talking to them. I get excited for them, knowing what they're in for. The problem is that I'm excited talking to them one-on-one. It's that crowd staring at me thing, I'm not a fan of. I have two more of these though, so hopefully I'll get less terrified about it.

Afterwards, it was time for a celebration - we were all prepared for it to be a consolation gathering, if necessary, but luckily it turned out to be a more upbeat affair. We ended up at the Bier Markt , a German beer garden, which meant...soft pretzels! Mmm Mmm Mmm. I split fondue with Robin too, but that was just so-so.

When we left, there was a block-long line to get into the place (?!), and we moved onto an Irish pub for one last beer. Cheers!

Once back at the hotel, I zonked out around midnight only to have the fire alarm go off 1/2 hour later. The annoying siren was complimented with the manager announcing "an alarm situation on the 30th floor" and telling us we can leave the building if we want to. I didn't want to. Then the message changed to the fact that the fire department was checking into it, and then 40 minutes later we got 5 minutes of the continued alarm and a repeat of the message that everything was fine - it was a false alarm. Ok then - shut the heck up!!

Today, is the last day of mild temps, so I was hoping to explore a bit after I fix my corrupted slides, but it looks like this out there. Hrmph. Tomorrow will be very cold, but sunny. Well, at least there are no blizzards.