This past Friday, James Maxey, Edmund Schubert, Orson Scott Card, and I signed copies of the IGMS Anthology at the Barnes and Noble in Greensboro, NC.

Summary: A wonderful time, filled with wonderful folks.

In Detail:

I’m very conscious of saving my vacation time to use when Tiptoe is born, so I went into work as usual that morning at about 6am.  That is, I got to work by 6; I left the house around 4:45.  I worked (or some approximation thereof) until 10:15 or so, and took my leave.  We’d bought some gifts for the folks that I’d be spending the night with down in NC, and as is customary, of course I’d forgotten to bring them to work with me.  So I stopped off at the Tent to get those, and some gas, and to say goodbye once again to my lovely M, and to play with Inkling a little.

Then off.

It was a five hour drive from home to Greensboro.  Not much to say here.  I did not fall asleep.  Well, my butt did.

In any case, I arrived in Greensboro around 4:30, and meandered about B&N’s for a while before walking over to the Macaroni Grill where I was meeting Edmund, James, and Edmund’s writer’s group.  Gray Rinehart also made an appearance.  Dinner was lovely, filled with scintillating conversation, none of which I can remember right now.

The signing started at 7:00; we were a little late, I think.  Card was doing his normal pre-signing show– walking around those gathered, and signing books for those who could not stay long.  When he saw us, he hustled everyone into their seats, and we got started.  Card introduced the signing as a signing for the IGMS anthology, rather than a signing for his Ender In Exile, which came out on November 11. He turned the floor over to Edmund, who introduced James and me, and gave us each a chance to read from our short stories in the anthology.  My reading went well; I think it was helped out by the fact that I’m still getting over a chest cold, and my voice sounded sort of smoky and gruff.

Card instructed everyone who was buying the anthology to come to the front of the signing line; we signed for about 30minutes to an hour, then all the anthologies were sold out.  EPIC WIN!

James, Edmund, and I left Card to his numberless adoring fans, and talked shop in the cafe until closing.  Some things I learned:

1) Pitch the cover:  James had the idea that pitches should be geared toward what can be put on the cover of the novel.  This synchs quite well with some observations Dave Farland has offered recently– books are sold by word of mouth and by their cover art.

2) Sciffy people are some of the kindest people in the world.  From the reader, to the world famous writer, everyone at the signing, and after the signing were gracious, funny, interesting, and all-around Goode Folkse.  You know who you are.

3) I need to write more.  Actually, I need to finish what I write more.