Book signing and reading

On to Ashland

Janet Fisher

Next stop on my journey to present my book The Shifting Winds is the lovely Bloomsbury Books in the southwestern Oregon town of Ashland, known for its elegant Shakespearean theater productions and other theatrical offerings. I’ll be there tomorrow evening, Monday, October 10, at 7 pm. That’s Bloomsbury’s in the photo below.

627-ashland-outside-bloomsbury-2I thoroughly enjoyed last week’s visit to Coos Bay at the Coos Bay Public Library for a book presentation and signing. My thanks to Ellen Thompson, Assistant Library Director, for inviting me and making all the arrangements. A very literary audience offered such a gratifying response. Many had already read my first book, A Place of Her Own, and expressed how much they enjoyed it. After my talk and reading with a slide show, we had a lively Q&A session. Many attendees had kinds words for me, but one heartfelt comment brought tears to my eyes when a woman thanked me for bringing history to life. It’s what I try so hard to do, and her affirmation touched me.

Tomorrow night will be a more traditional reading and signing. I’ll say a just few words and give a reading, then take questions before signing books.

I lived in Ashland about twenty years ago and had a wonderful gig there doing play reviews for the Sneak Preview, an Ashland monthly newspaper. What fun! My job meant attending all sorts of plays, including one fantastic dinner theater production, and of course writing reviews.

Bloomsbury Books was my go-to bookstore when I lived there. One thing about living in a lot of places, as I have, I’m a local author in many locales.

If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. As I recall, my last event at Bloomsbury’s had a lively Q&A too.

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Book Launch Party

Janet Fisher8 Comments

A wonderful crowd braved the rain to come out to my book launch party at the Elkton ECEC Sunday afternoon. I was surprised and delighted to see so many from my Roseburg writers group. They nearly filled one of the tables.

book6.author table From left to right (above): Arvilla and Don Newsom, Kari Clark, Heather Villa, Bill Isaac (longtime friend who’s not in the writers group but just happened to sit at this distinguished table), me standing, Wilma Mican, Emily Blakely, President Dianne Carter, and Marlene Daley. Thanks so much for coming.

book5.andrew.musicWe had fantastic guitar music by Andrew Arriaga, Elkton music teacher, here in front of the fur trade display in the ECEC Library, appropriate for my story set in the fur trade days of nineteenth century Oregon. Thank you very much, Andrew. Such great listening!

Book4-1.wineWe had wine with cheese and crackers, the wine compliments of Jim Wood, formerly of Napa Valley, now of Elkton. He offered Elkton wines from Brandborg Winery and Hundredth Valley Winery, as well as selections from the Napa Valley winery that used grapes from the Wood family vineyards there. That’s Jim, beyond the camera’s focal point, standing in the background next to Andrew. Thank you, Jim, for your wonderful generosity and for adding this touch of class to our party.

Book3-1.table.caseyJim enlisted his family to help serve the wine, son Nathan, Nathan’s friend Casey Zarnes, and Jim’s daughter-in-law Sarah Wood, wife of son Chad. Here Casey is chatting with one of my cousins, Karen Maupin Jackson in the striped top, Arvilla Newsom from the writers group in the green coat, and Emily Hunt behind Arvilla. And I love the flowers I found at the Bookmine in Cottage Grove, the deep pink carnations with lavender-colored spray that almost matches my book.

book8.readingThen came the reading from The Shifting Winds, clearly a serious moment in the story here.

book7.signingAnd the signing.

I had a lovely time, and everyone else seemed to enjoy it too.

All the photos are by Robin Loznak, my son-in-law. Thank you, Robin. And thanks also to my daughter, Carisa, for handling the guestbook and helping at the signing table.

Many thanks to Sue Butkus, Site Coordinator at ECEC, for all your help in setting this up, and to Executive Director Marjorie Hammon and to Kris Hendricks, Education Coordinator, for all your help. And a great big thanks to everyone who came and made this such a happy occasion.

NEXT UP: A signing and reading at the fabulous Douglas County Museum in Roseburg Thursday evening, March 10, from 6:30 to 8:30. It will be a very different kind of venue. I’ll do a tribute to George Abdill, the first director of that museum, a man who helped me so much in my research for this book. We’ll also show photos from the Oregon Trail and other historic pictures related to the story–the visuals Robin has been encouraging me to do. So he’ll help with that and I’ll do a reading–a different segment than I read in Elkton.

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