Though exhausting, I had a good time. The crowd was huge both days, but everyone in it was pleasant and patient. I had to ask many people how to spell their first names, especially the one syllable names. Meanwhile others stood in line, took the time to read my book reviews and make a choice among the eight on the table, smiling all the while. Talk about a happy crowd! I bet some ReadersMagnet were there.

At one booth with four men who’d written non-fiction on varying aspects of the Bible and their related religious experiences, each stood in the middle of a small lawn for an interview by a woman and two men recording three-part interviews by the woman. I watched but couldn’t hear what the writers said.                

Eventually, the interviewer called me to the sunny lawn. I had “Call me Mary” with me at the time. She was serious, polite, almost obsequious. She first asked me what my novel was about. I explained that all my novels had characters with weird addictions.  “Oh,” she said, “what kind of addiction does Mary have?”                

I simply answered “Sex.”                

She laughed so hard that she bent over double. At first, I thought she was more surprised than amused. The first part of the three-part interview consisted of questions about the book. In the second section she asked me how I came to write it. I told her the same as I told all you Readers Loungers in earlier blogs that I learned about weird addictions by eavesdropping in airport waiting lounges. But when I told her the idea for Mary came from a conversation I overheard on the train, she bent double with laughter again.

In the third part she asked me about myself. Everything I said cracked her up and I wasn’t trying to be funny, just honest. At one point she laughed so hard tears came to her eyes.  At the end she hugged me and asked to sign a copy of my book for her. It was the strangest interview of my life, and pure fun. I have no idea where it’s going.  When I find out I’ll send it to AuthorsLounge.                

Meanwhile, take a look at my website. It’s full of choices. www.evelyn-cole.com. Or you can order most of my books on Amazon or Kindle. I plan to upload my latest book of poetry today.  It’s called CONSIDER . . . and an amazing number of people at the bookfair wanted a copy after reading the poem on the back cover.