“Oh Dad! Can I Please Buy This Book?”

You’ve heard me say it numerous times, my book, “The Gathering Room - A Tale of Nelly Butler”, seeks out and finds the people who are supposed to know this story. You’ve also heard me say, just recently in another blog post, that every event I attend I know there is one person I am supposed to meet that day and I know they will be shown to me. Recently I attended an event that provided me with glaring examples of both of these scenarios.

Just this past weekend I was doing a book signing at a sporting goods store. I know, selling books at a sporting goods store seems odd right? I thought so too when I was invited to their Christmas event last year, but oddly I sold quite a few books there. So this year when they reached out to me and asked if I would like to be at their store again I went gladly. This year however, there was an impending storm, and whereas I had signed books at their main store last year, this year the event had been moved to their downtown location. I’m all to familiar with how difficult parking can be in the downtown. So to be truthfully honest, given the weather and the location I didn’t expect to sell many books. However, as noted, I stopped worrying long ago about how many books I sell. There are other reasons for me and the book to be out among the public. And this was made abundantly clear to me almost immediately.

I was scheduled to start my sighing at 10:00 and I literally think it was 10:05 when a father walked in with his two young daughters. Clearly they were on a Christmas shopping mission and the person they were looking to buy a gift for was obviously an outdoor enthusiast. They looked around the store for a bit before the older of the two girls spotted me sitting quietly in the corner. I watched as her eyes lit up and I knew immediately that she was a child that loved books! If you are a book lover you know what I mean. I watched as she tugged on her father’s sleeve to get his attention. Once she had it she whispered something and then pointed at me. Together they casually walked over to my table. I spoke right up, because, well if you know me, that’s never a problem for me! And I asked the young girl if she liked to read. In response she nodded her head up and down vigoursly and then shyly said to me “Is this book about a ghost?” I told her it was, in a way, and then explained the history behind the ghost of Nelly Butler and how the book told the story of the people involved. She asked “Are you the author?” I nodded and then handed her a book so she could see my photo on the back. “Yes I am, and look they even put my picture on the back!” she took the book from me, and as with most children I meet, got really excited to think she was talking to a “real” author!

And then without any warning, this incredibly shy child started reading the summary on the back of my book….OUT LOUD!! She read slow, as you would expect from a child trying to sound out words completely foreign to her every day vocabulary. She stumbled over the word “financially” in describing George’s situation when he and Nelly returned to Franklin. And she wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce Lydia’s last name of “Blaisdell” and had to look at her father for reassurance. But she read the entire paragraph out loud, right there in the store. And do you want to know what I was doing? I was bawling like a baby! Yup, me the multi award winning author of a best selling book was ugly crying all over myself in front of total strangers in a sporting goods store! I just could not hold myself together as I listened to this child, who obviously loved reading so much, take the deep dive into a book that was clearly way above her skill level. But despite that she was reading out loud the thoughts of my imagination. In her stuttering and awkward way she was bringing my story to life right in front of me. This just touched me so deeply because I was that child once. That child that just loved books so much that I read anything I could get my hands on, even if I didn’t really understand everything I was reading. This young girl was my kindred spirit.

When she finished reading the summary, she turned her face up to her father and begged him, “Oh dad, can I please buy this book?” Dad, clearly understanding her enthusiasm, cautioned her a bit though, “Maybe in a year or two, when you are 11 or 12. I think some of those words might be to hard for you to read.” I also understood that dad was probably more concerned with the content of the story, then with if she could actually sound the words out. So I told him I had written this book “clean”. I had written it for my own entertainment, knowing full well that my own children and grandchildren would read it and I didn’t write anything in it that I would be embarrassed about if my own family read it. I also told him that I felt the book was appropriate for ages middle school and up, and that I had actually met a young man a few months ago who was 9 years old who had loved it. This information gave the young girl hope and she looked again at her father begging for him to purchase her a copy. And as the dad of a book lover, he couldn’t say no! So I signed a copy for her, which thrilled her even more, and handed it to her. She clung to that book, literally, hugging it to her chest like she couldn’t let go. I shook her hand and thanked her for loving my book so much. I then explained to her father that I truly believed that at every event I attend I am supposed to me one person, and his daughter was my one person that day.

They walked back into the depths of the store, continuing their quest to fulfill their Christmas shopping list. I continued to wipe tears from eyes. I watched the young girl and every chance she got to make eye contact with me she would sheepishly smile and lift her hand in a little wave, still hugging my book to her chest. Eventually they left the store, I got up and went to the bathroom to check the condition of my face after all of that crying and then resumed my spot in my chair. Ten minutes into my two hour book signing slot and I was content, didn’t matter to me if I sold another book, I had met my one person! About an hour later they returned to the store, the girl ran right up to my table, my book still clutched in her hands, “I want to buy another book!” she told me excitedly “For my mom!” I looked up at the dad and his face registered that frustration of a man who has spent an hour shopping downtown and the girls had clearly not found anything they wanted to purchase for their mom, except, well, my book. So I signed another one for the mom and shook the young girls hand again. That’s when her younger sister spoke up for the first time. “I’m 9 years old. I’m going to read your book someday too.” I told her I hoped she enjoyed it! As the next hour dragged on and fewer and fewer people entered the store, I realized I wasn’t going to sell even half of the books I had sold at this event last year. But I didn’t mind, I had met this young girl, I had met my one person.

Then at 11:45, just fifteen minutes before I was supposed to pack up and leave, a very nice young couple entered the store. They walked around, browsing at the goods for sale and then the woman spotted me in the corner. She came right over and we started chatting as she picked up the book and started to read the summary as I prattled away on the book winning this award and that award, blah blah. Suddenly she looked up and with a very surprised and shocked look on her face she said “Lydia Blaisdell?” she then spoke a little louder and got the attention of the man that had come in with her. “Come here!” she urged him. He came over and she handed him the book. “Here! Read this!” she exclaimed and then she looked at me and said “No wait let her tell you about it!” so I proceeded with my little elevator speech about the book and when I was finished he turned his eyes back to the summary of the book and I knew when he read the part that said Lydia’s name because I saw his eyes get really big. He then looked at me and said “Where did this story happen?” I told him in Franklin and Sullivan and showed him the map I always have me. The couple exchanged one of those knowing looks that couples have and then she said to me. “He just found out YESTERDAY, that his grandmother was a Blaisdell. They were from Pemaquid.”

Well, ladies and gentleman let me tell you something! I was not at all surprised by this conversation! You know why? Because the book seeks out and finds the people who are supposed to know this story. I’ve seen it happen to many times to not believe it for myself. But the really cool caveat to this gentleman finding the book is that the next book, The Prequel, is about the story of the Blaisdells and how they ended up in Pemaquid!!! That was the first time I had seen that happen!!! Looks like my journey is continuing!

This lovely couple did buy a book and it was the last one, of just a few, I sold that day. Honestly I didn’t care. I had been shown the reasons why I do this. I had met my one person and the book had proven to me yet again that it will guide it’s own future, I just need to tag along!

Thanks so much for being on this journey with me! I hope you find it as fun and fascinating as I do!