A Wonderful Time

Yesterday evening at the Sky Bear Brewery —

Family Friendly Dining | Sky Bear Brewery – Loveland

was just about perfect.

It started out when a cute couple, Beth and her husband, waved to us from the bar with a stack of The Claire Saga sitting before them. They weren’t there for the book club, but we had met them a while back while dining at SB. She had seen the advertisement for the event and wanted to catch me beforehand.

Beth was adorable. She had read the first three and was now well into FJM, and it was so much fun hearing her take on all of the characters and events and her recounting those that made her laugh and cry. It is like hearing someone gush over your kids. Made me teary eyed.

I was so caught up in the conversation and with inscribing all of her books that I actually forgot to snap a selfie. Next time Beth. Call me when you finish WTLLM and we’ll meet up again.

That intercession as I walked into the space was enough to pump me up for the main event.

There was over a dozen regular attendees of their book sharing club and absolutely no pressure on me to keep them entertained. Autumn Mestas, standing to the left,

introduced me to the group.

My dear neighbors, Sari and Ray Tyler, who own some of the sheep, dogs and horses I have visited daily for the past eight years, came by for moral support.

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They took that photo – actually it’s a video – above.

That’s them, in the back left of the photo. (And yes, that is a rare sighting of my wife, Lisa, to the right of me in the photo – appropriately channeling Where’s Waldo in striped shirt and glasses. Now go capture a photo of Big Foot.)

(Notice the Last Supper “V” negative space between us – copied that move from JC – we all know that was Mary Magdalene)

Sari and Ray are a wonderful couple that care for wonderful creatures (they have a dark lab named “Dog”) — some of whom are mentioned in TWA long before we became friends with their humans — on their property here on Berthoud Estates. They do amazing landscaping throughout the NoCo area. Ray gave me my first and only ride in a Tesla truck which is the closest thing on earth to riding in a spaceship. Trust me on that. He was kind enough to tell me he enjoyed the books. And Sari built the Berthoud Estates Free Lending Library on the corner of their property, which hosts a donated and inscribed set of The Claire Saga.

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And yes, that is a shit-eating grin on my face because the Universe has sat me at a table of female readers (one exception, Connor, to the left) who seemed interested enough to stay for the event – about an hour altogether. Half that was the table bartering of the group’s own book selections.

I snapped up this “How To” guide that I am confident will come in very handy in the future.

But the challenge last night was speaking to a group of people who not only did not know me from Adam but did not yet read my book. The good news is that it gave me the opportunity to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Self-fulfilling prophecy – Wikipedia

I got to tell them about who I was, who Claire is, and all about the backstory to the creation of The Claire Saga. I got to sell them me and all the friends that went into the mix – indeed they commented on the OFC hat I was donning – and with enough laughing, I got them predisposed to liking the work I was discussing.

It was a little bit like The Music Man.

The Music Man – Wikipedia

At least that is what you hope for.

And I was so happy that they all seemed to enjoy themselves. That’s all that ever mattered to me. Putting smiles on faces.

I didn’t have to soil the moment by turning it transactional and selling books. Let Amazon handle that.

In fact, at the end, Lisa pulled out two copies of TWA from her Mary Poppins purse and whispered for me to offer them to the group.

So, I did.

Stephanie Jones holds the first copy I inscribed to their book club. She promised to pass it around to the rest of the table once she finishes it.

I enjoy the idea of something I created being passed around among and handled by a group of young women.

The next copy I gave to this charming young lady, Angie (I’m so bad with names, thanks Autumn), who originally hails from Georgia, has three older children that are rabid readers, and was a fun conversationalist throughout the evening.

Lisa insisted she get the last copy. I inscribed it to her three children. I need to establish the next generation of cult readership or I’m never going to reach that JRRT/JKR level of success.

And the fun continued after the event was officially over as a number of the women stopped by for one-on-one conversations. Lisa was laser focused on conversing with one very pregnant attendee (her first child- due next month) sitting by us. The mother and nurse in her can’t help itself. Best of luck, young lady. Parenting is the hardest and yet most rewarding role you can ever perform.

This young lady below – again whose name escapes me – was a lot of fun to chat with. Again, my apologies for not remembering your name.

All of the attendees took a copy of my card.

And they are all welcome to contact me if they or their friends would ever like their book inscribed or they ever want me to attend any of their future gatherings. This paid the extra dividend of some of them texting me the photos that appear here.

And on the way home, Lisa volunteered that she thought the evening “went really well,” and that she thought everyone had a great time. She told me that a number of the women asked her if I would come back again in the future. Lisa’s always been supportive of my writing.

So, the evening was a huge success. I love just being a writer and being able to meet new people under just that umbrella.

It’s good that I placed an order for a new batch of cards yesterday. I already have a book club meet-up scheduled for May.

Well, I now have to place my bare feet back on earth and take care of all of the wonders here at Casa Claire.

You fine, five readers get ready to scale the Hump. Make sure to wave to Friday – just over Thursday’s shoulder – as you descend. But attack whatever projects that pay your bills with a determined and in-the-moment focus so that nothing overwhelms or deters you from getting it all done by Friday morning. Remember, Superbowl LX awaits. You need to keep that weekend schedule clear for party prep.

And no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.