I'm handing out excerpts of my book at Stitches this weekend as fast as my little hands can pass them out, and before I fall asleep face down in my soup, here are a couple of my favorite reactions so far:
Me, handing Knitter flier: "Hi! Take a sneak peek at my novel, which comes out on Tuesday!"
Knitter: "Did you write this?"
Me: "Yes."
Knitter: "Did you write the other one?"
Me: "…"
Or this:
Knitter, looking at the back of the excerpt, where my picture is: "Oh, I know her. She's from LA."
Me: "I'm from Oakland."
Knitter (suspiciously): "Hmm."
Or this:
Knitter, looking at the cover: "Oh, I heard about this on NPR!"
Me, thinking: I wish. Saying: "Mmmm."
Or my favorite:
Knitter, picking up the excerpt and flipping it over: "What channel will this be on?"
I had no answer for that one at all other than (what I thought was) the obvious. "It's a book."
A disappointed "Oh" was all I got.
But it is SO MUCH FUN. Knitters are my people. Knitters FOR THE WIN. While these reactions are funny, most of the reactions I got were overwhelmingly positive, to the point where sometimes I just wanted to cry with joy from it all. The smiles, the encouragement, the excitement on their faces when they learned it was my first novel — I could have hugged everyone. Maybe I did.
I can't wait to go back tomorrow.