And I Even Sold Some Books!

by Stephanie Black

My trip to Utah was a lot of fun. I was very tired by the time I got home on Saturday night, and, apparently, a bit of a dingbat—I drove halfway to Ward Council the next morning with my parking brake on. Whoops. I thought the minivan felt a little funny, but figured I was just used to the feel of the rental car I’d been driving for the past three days.

I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store on Saturday night--did I mention I was tired?--and figured I could make do with the chicken in the freezer for Sunday dinner. But dinner plans went downhill from there—the chicken wasn’t thawed by the time I wanted to roast it, so I decided to boil it and turn it into chicken tortilla soup, which could have worked, except that the only onion in the house was aged and sprouting, so here we were with a pot of boiled chicken and no plans for it. And this on a Fast Sunday with starving children clawing at my legs, zombie-style (Okay, that’s a lie. No one was clawing at my legs, but my oldest daughter did do some moaning and talked about being prepared). We ended up doing a nacho thing involving black beans, tomatoes, cheese and, of course, chicken. It was pretty tasty, but Elmer’s glue would probably be tasty on Fast Sunday.

Anyway, my book signings went well. Yes, there were awkward moments, but overall it was fun. During Women’s Conference I did a signing at the BYU Bookstore with the absolutely delightful Kerri Robinson, co-author of the A Banner is Unfurled series. Doing signings with another author is way more fun than signing solo, and it was great to meet Kerri. After that signing, four of the six Frog Bloggers met for lunch at a Thai restaurant near campus. Rob, Jeff, Julie and I had a great time chatting and—get this—I got to see and even touch the galleys for Jeff’s first Farworld book. Yes, folks, I know you’re jealous, and you should be. I’m hoping Jeff publishes a lot more books really quickly, not just because he’s an amazingly talented writer, but because in celebration of his new book, he paid for our lunch. I’m hoping for more of that.


Saturday was fairly insane. I was on the run all day, zipping from signing to signing. Except for a couple of Hershey’s kisses, I didn’t have time for lunch or dinner until I was at the airport that evening. But it was worth it. I was able to meet some awesome people last Friday and Saturday, including some of our blog readers—Sarah, Shauna and Jon, it was great to meet you! (If I missed anyone, please forgive me and post a comment reminding me—I’m lucky to remember my own children’s names).

I was also able to meet fellow writers Karlene and Tristi and see lots of other wonderful people, including my roommate from my freshman year at BYU, my awesome cousin who introduced me to my husband, and a dear friend whom I’ve known since junior high school. When I was signing his copy of my book, I wanted to write a comment about how long we’d known each other, so I asked him how long it had been. When he said 27 years, my brain completely shorted out.

A huge thank you goes to the staffs at Seagull bookstores that I visited. Y’all are some of the nicest people on the planet. And another super-sized thanks goes to everyone who stopped by my table to talk to me. It was great to chat with you, and I’m sorry I threw myself on the floor and tripped you as you walked by so you’d have to stop, but come on, I was desperate.

Okay, I didn’t really trip anyone, but Kerri Robinson and I did joke about doing it.