So I just got back from a book tour. Signings number #17-20 for Ghostwriter. Averaging meeting and talking to about 50+ people per store, selling between 15-20 books per store.
I’ve shared my thoughts before on this blog on why I do booksignings.
One thing I might not have addressed, however, is the subject of purpose. I get a renewed sense of it every time I spend three to four hours in a bookstore.
I see the books surrounding me, stacks of the latest bestseller beating down on all the others around it. I see booksellers walking around, busily working and helping customers and usually trying their best not to engage the animated and unnaturally outgoing author in the front of the store. And of course, I see customers. Most of them book lovers of all sorts. I engage them even when I know they’re SO not going to purchase anything from me.
I see all of this and I am reminded why I do this.
People love books. They love being moved. They love having their minds taken off the ordinary and the real. They love discovering new voices, new worlds, new stories.
Every single time I’m in a bookstore, I’m reminded of why I love such a place. And how I need to work harder.
Not so I can become the next Dan Brown.
It’s wonderful and challenging and humbling and sometimes even baffling.
Every time I leave, I feel a bit more resolved to the task at hand. Creating something that is meaningful, that readers will respond to, that might have the potential to be talked about, that might even last for some amount of time.
My purpose now? I’m trying to stay in the game and grow. I’m trying to keep at this and finally nail it.
Booksignings remind me. Strangers remind me. You might have just recently met me and reminded me. Thanks.
Don’t let the goofy grin and the rambling words fool you.
I’m quite serious about this writing thing. And I’m focused. As much as I can be, that is. My goal continues to be to grow, to become a better storyteller, to explore and expand. And I never want to let those goals go.
I am glad that God provided you such a renewal! Had been worried a bit for you for awhile as you seemed a bit down. Just wish your signings came a bit further west. 🙂
Travis—Great post about your book signing. For those of us unpublished, you are Dan Brown; the great Gazoo, a published and well-respected author. Good work. It is so very interesting to see how different authors write. I have the only video interview of Cormac McCarthy in existence on my blog (and you can see all of the interview on youtube, search “cormac oprah”), and that man is—besides excruciatingly uncomfortable on camera—so introverted, plus a steaming ladleful of social anxiety disorder, it actually makes him interesting. Oprah gets slammed for her lackluster interview of the guy, but really, it’s like interviewing a pet rock. I exaggerate, certainly, as there are pearls to what he says. Writers love listening to other writers. Whereas John Irving knows the last sentence first, and writes the entire novel directed to that last sentence in rich verbosity, Cormac claims he has no idea how the story will flow, let alone end, and writes with a staccato style all his punctuation-less own. Please do read The Road, if you have not; it is so well-written it’s chilling, and yet its post apocalyptical theme is hopeful. It feels eerie, like your Ghostwriter. And having a little daughter, you will certainly appreciate the dialogue between the father and the son; it’s precisely the way a child would talk and think. “We’re the good guys, right Papa? The good guys always win, right?” Man, it rocks.
Your Broken book cover, speaking of rocking, is heavy metal! I think that TrAVis ThRaSher style name on the cover has become one of your trademarks, too. Almost like a logo. Keep up the good work, Travis. Happy book signing. Coolkayaker1
I totally agree. Please do us all a favor and keep on writing and doing the book signings. I can't wait to read your new book, Broken. I've recently read two YA books, and loved them. I just may have to write one myself.