When the Weekend Plans Go Feral and the Author Keeps Dancing
If you’ve ever watched a weather forecast like it was the season finale of a thriller, you’ll understand my week. One minute, I was calmly preparing for the upcoming Christmas festival on Saturday, and the next, the forecast promised three straight days of rain and thunderstorms, which makes tents sag, vendors, especially authors, sprint, and paperbacks cry.
Cue the pivot.
The organizers shifted the event to the next week on the Sunday because there’s already a Christmas festival happening on that Saturday in a nearby town. Same county. Same crowds. Same readers juggling hot cocoa, handmade crafts, along with the sudden desire to buy another book for themselves, and some additional books to give as presents to their family and for a work or book club secret Santa.
And just like that, my quiet weekend became a double-header challenge. We’ve never done two book events on consecutive days before, but if I can wrangle imaginary murderers, secretive suspects, mobsters, ghosts, cranky sheriffs, and rogue tech moguls on the page, surely Senior Staff and I can wrangle two festivals in one weekend.
Welcome to My Weekend Whirlwind
Here’s my schedule that is actually a plot twist in action!
- Friday: Load tent, tables, bins of books into the truck.
- Saturday: Roll out early, set up the booth, stack the books, and greet readers while hoping the wind minds its manners. Sell books, laugh with new friends, pack up, and leave everything in the truck like a traveling circus.
- Saturday night: Replenish the books that went home with readers. Hydrate. Stretch. Pretend I’m as young as the characters I write.
- Sunday dawn: Coffee. Coffee in the thermos. Drive to round two, set up again, smile like it’s Day One, and do my absolutely favorite thing, which is talk books with readers. What do you like to read?
- Sunday evening: Collapse with dignity, or without it; the dogs don’t judge. Unload the truck later or maybe on Monday. Probably Monday.
Celebrate another successful fall and holiday festival season!
Readers Make the Pivot Worthwhile
Last year at a festival, a young woman came to my booth looking slightly overwhelmed. She wanted to buy three books; two were gifts for her mom and her grandma, and the third was a treat for herself. We chatted about their hobbies, what kinds of stories they each gravitated toward, and which types of characters hooked them fastest. I paired each one with a Book 1 from a different series.
A few weeks after Christmas, she emailed me. “You nailed it! Even my picky grandma loved her book!”
Moments like this are why I love going to the festivals. The stories may be mine, but the joy of matching the right book with the reader is where the real magic happens!
The Dance of Flexibility
I may be spinning through a whirlwind weekend with two festivals, one truck, one patient man, and a mountain of books, but I’ll land exactly where I love being: in the middle of conversations that matter, in front of readers who love stories, and in the heart of a community that shows up.
Flexibility isn’t just a fancy dance move; it’s adjusting your footing mid-air and finishing the spin with flair, even if you wobble a little.
You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!
p.s. Can’t make it to either of the festivals?
Visit Barrett Book Shop! https://barrettbookshop.com
Judith A. Barrett - Author 