When the Sky Comes Looking for You launched Wednesday, October 19th at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg. This was my first book event in three years. So … how did it go?

Well.

It was a blast!

I spent most of the day of the event getting mentally and physically prepped, and trying to remember that I used to do this stuff all the time.

I always carry multiple pens in my notebook, but because I wasn’t sure where my usual batch were in their ink cycle, I doubled up. Each of my books gets a little doodle when I personalize it, in addition to the signature, and I doodle in a different colour for each book. (I also tend to edit using the colours, and write in my notebook in black). I only needed to change my black pen once during the signing, but I’m still glad I was ready.

The other major decision pre-launch was which belt buckle to wear. I joked that I should wear the scorpion in case there was a power failure, as in addition to being HUGE, it glows in the dark. And then there was a power flicker during the Q&A! What are the odds?

Walking into McNally Robinson to see my poster up on the upcoming events wall.

My signing table, ready to go.

A close up view of the signing table and poster.

Shortly before launch, I ended up going with the bison buckle, an heirloom gift passed down from a friend of my father.

John Toews, events coordinator extraordinaire, gets the ball rolling by introducing the host for the evening, my friend and online journalist and instructor, Dan Vadeboncoeur.

Dan introducing yours truly.

I’m reading from “No Sunshine in Hel” the final story in When the Sky Comes Looking for You.

Dan and I having a lively Q&A. There were some great questions from the audience, also.

Signing stock at the end of the night.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out in person, or watched the livestream on YouTube. It was fantastic to see you all again. If you missed the event, you can check it out here:

Write on!