A Prepublished Novel in the Process of Revisions and Rewrites

Sunday, April 5, 2009

High Tea and My First Book Signing:)

I have successfully completed my very first booksigning! Let me just say that I was beside myself all week. I don't like crowds, and I don't like to think about public speaking. Don't get me wrong. I am very much a people person but when it comes to making 'appearances' to promote myself. Yikes! That scares the heck out of me. I'd rather be in my own little space writing my heart out all by myself.

Okay all that aside, I took myself by the proverbially sandle straps and got myself to the Serenity Tea Room in West Palm Beach on time and had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon amongst my peer authors, friends, family, and walkin customers.

What a wonderfully quaint place! I have some personal pictures to share with you later because I have not gotten them downloaded as yet, but here are some a friend has taken.

This is the beautiful little cottage that houses the tea house. This picture is not the most current. It came off the Serenity webpage but I will share an updated one as soon as I get them. The cottage trellis in front it completely covered in bougainvillea and the front is surrounded by various flowers and plants now. When you pass through the arch of the trellis you are enclosed in a little garden terrace.


The Serenity Tea House serves the traditional British High Tea. Complete with a three course meal. The fair consists of a wonderful brothy soup, scones, cucumber and tomato sandwiches, as well, coddled cream served with lemon and strawberry preserves, and the traditional tiny desserts. The ambiance is so relaxing.

Below are the signing authors as well as members of the Florida Romance Writers(my RWA chapter), family, and friends. I am seated in the toward the back of the first group picture behind the rose centerpiece to the left.


As you will notice the first two photos are either end of the room I was seated in and the below picture is taken in one of the adjoining rooms. Assorted fresh flowers, knick knacks, period pieces from hats to antique wedding gowns, furniture, lighting, so much imagery it's truly hard to describe. All I can tell you is it turned out to be the perfect afternoon.

I'm quite sure you are wondering how the signing went. Fantastic! I went with a small number of books and came back with only two. It seems my debut author signing proved to be a wonderful success:) All the authors report the same result. I will definitely look forward to doing this again.


In closing, I would like to thank Mary Ricksen for all the work she did in making this signing the success it was. She did a terrific job and and deserves a standing ovation along with lots of hugs. I know for a fact there were times she probably wanted to pull her hair out:) I hope to do more promotional events with my good friends:
Mary Ricksen,
Jianne Carlo,
Mona Risk,
Patrice Wilton, and
Traci Hall.

14 comments:

  1. How fun! It sounds like you had a fantastic time. plianer

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  2. D~
    Congrats on your first of many book signings. The little tea house looked quaint, like a place you'd like to revisit often. Hope your day was everything you expected and more.
    Jt

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  3. Wish I could have been there... It sounds like a you had a great adventure. I am so not a schmoozer. My editor would just smack me if she ever met me because I am very reserved. LOL. Booksignings are tough for me. But if I go with author friends in pack mode, it helps. We end up bringing way too much free stuff for the readers and graze on all the cookie/snack platters. ROFL. So, I guess we had a mock high tea. But you got to check out all the cool decorations. What am I whining about? A bookstore is a wonderful place! I'm glad your first booksigning was exceptional.

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  4. Great post and great pictures. It was good to see you and meet your relatives.

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  5. Your family is just so special. And there couldn't be anything better then being there with your Mom. I am really glad that you had the guts to come. I am a bit agoraphobic, so I had to fight with myself. I do know what you mean. But I wanted this to be the best for everyone.
    Having a good time with everyone meant the world to me. I will always remember it. And treasure the day we had a book signing and High Tea at a real tea house with a bunch of wonderful people.
    Forever.

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  6. Sounds like a great first experience, Dayana! Lovely pictures, too.
    Mickey

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  7. Super blog, Dayana! You described it perfectly, and I'm so glad your first signing was such a success. The ambiance, setting, and company made the event a wonderful experience for us all. I'm shy like you, and have had only 3 signings so far, but they've all been fun. I can't imagine doing one along though, can you?
    Patrice

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  8. Sounds like a great time. Wish I could have been there!

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  9. How pretty. I'll bet you felt like a princess. I know I would! I hope it was fabulous and you made memories that'll stay with you forever!
    Susan

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  10. Dayana, congratulations on a successful first signing! Glad you had such a wonderful experience. :)

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  11. Dayana, Sounds like a wonderful first signing. And the tea house looks beautiful.I would love to experience something like that!

    Great post.
    Christine

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  12. Sounds like you all had a great time!

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  13. Very cool, Dayna. The Tea House sounds wonderful.

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  14. Thank you all for commenting! I really did have a wonderful time of it. I look forward to the next and might even dip the proverbial toe into maybe a group "book" store book signing. I cringe about doing one solo but I may be persuaded to buddy up with some other authors, LOL

    D~

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