On a gorgeous sunshiny Saturday, perhaps the calm before the storm, 25,000 people attended the Boston Book Festival!  Who says people don't read anymore?  There was a huge program of writers, agents, artists, musicians, stuff for kids, stuff for adults, stuff for everybody.  Wow!  Of course this is a polite, good-natured crowd, and I saw a man with a cat clinging to his shoulder like a baby.  The cat's expression said "don't tread of me."  There were more dogs, also good-natured, some tykes in strollers, and ladies in classy hats.  Lots of booths with publishers and everything to do with books.  I signed copies of World of Mirrors at the Sisters in Crime New England Booth. My co-signers were Lea Wait and Kat Fast.  We had authors throughout the day, schmoozing, signing and enthusing about the crime genre.  Dennis Lehane sparkled, as usual as the panel about place and time, and lots and lots of literary lights from the Northeast were on various panels. Soho Crime was next door to our booth, and of course I bought just about as many books as I sold. Boston Book Festival

We trekked over to Newbury Street and Papparazzi for a lunch and wine that couldn't be beat.  Big crowd at Stephanie's too, the weather so good you could eat outdoors, and in a couple days we will be experiencing the rains and probably the power failure.  It always happens.
We have our candles, hurricane lamps (kerosene) and batteries.  Food in the house, dry wood for the fireplace.  We know the drill, and we're high above the slough.Plenty of cat food in the house.  You never want to run out of cat food.

More on the book fair tomorrow.

Grapeshot

Social Networking 101

On Saturday, Significant Other and I attended a workshop on social networking sponsored by New England Sisters in Crime.  The networking guru was Shawn Nicholls, who is senior digital marketing director at Harper Collins.

We learned a lot about Facebook, Fan Pages, and Content, until everyone's head was swimming.  The lunch with yummy salads, mini wraps, fruit and cookies couldn't be beat.  Then it was on to Twitter, Blogs and Websites.  Sorry to say, but websites will soon be on your Facebook page, likewise blogs.  Facebook is where it's at, using Aps and Tabs and parsing Insights.  One has to run to keep up.

Barbara, Mo and Ro --ladies with laptops

Here are a few photos of the group.  For some reason, Blogger is really slooooow to load photos these days.  Inquiring minds want to know why.               

We can make an executive decision.  Barb, Sheila and Pat

Shawn said that fan are interested in the process of writing.  Sometimes when one talks about that, one sounds kind of, you know, crazy, as in "my characters talk to me."  Oh really?

Pensive Liz

The participants agreed they had learned a lot and everyone rushed home to Tweet, post, and review notes.   All in all, a day of useful learning.