Can I tell you that there is nothing more energizing and exciting than meeting 1)shop owners who are open-minded and want new things for their customers 2)other vendors and authors with whom you can connect and network and make friends. Yesterday was such a day - exhausting (don't even try to talk to my feet) - and exhilarating at the same time.
Toward the end of the day, when Shelly and I were on the verge of collapse from standing and chatting and demonstrating our surface design processes - some nice man offered to take our picture and we managed to conjure up these smiles. Actually, we WERE happy because my books flew off the shelf and Shelly's Paintstiks did the same.
I think every shop owner from Michigan was there, along with many from Ohio (naturally), Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Va. and even from Canada. I loved talking to them - and of course, the ones who stopped to talk to Shelly and me were self-selected: people whose customers were art quilters - which seems to be more and more the case. I was especially happy to meet Wanda Nash, the program chair of the Ann Arbor Guild, where I will be going next year. Such fun to put faces to e-mail names!
In front of our booth, the line of customers stretched for what looked like miles: shop owners and buyers as far as the eye could see, buying for their stores. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
After we cleaned up our spaces at the end of the day, we took off for the nearest watering hole to put our feet up and unwind before the nice Checker people took us out to dinner, yet again.
I got home at 4:00 this afternoon after a couple of pleasant flights on American Airlines and now I am going to go back to reading the best book I have read in years: Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs. You may know I am a Richard Russo fan. I have read every one of his books, and this might be his best yet. My other two favorites are Nobody's Fool and Empire Falls.
He writes so well that every other book I pick up after having finished anything he has written seems like so much pap. Trust me, you NEED to read Bridge of Sighs.
4 comments:
I too am a Russo fan, my favorite being The Risk Pool. His characters are all people I know, people I grew up around. There's always a man in his books that reminds me of my father - in Risk Pool the relationship between the father and son was so much like the one between my father and me. Yes, he is a terrific author. I'm still catching up on some of his work, have a collection of short stories right now, then on to Bridge of Sighs - can hardly wait!
That reminds me -- i liked the two Richard Russo books I read, too. I should re-visit him. I've been reading Larry McMurtry. I guess i'm in a Texas state of mind.
I must have missed it-- what tradeshow or event was this you attended?
also, is blogger trying a new format? my blog is just posting one blog at a time, too.
So glad you got to meet Wanda. She's a great friend and extraordinary quilter and guild member. We are all looking forward to welcoming you to Ann Arbor. It's a great guild full of creative and inquisitive quilters. We know you'll love it!
Kathy
I also love Richard Russo's books! I didn't know about Bridge of Sighs so I'm glad you mentioned it! I'll be visiting my local bookstore soon! :-)
I'm glad you had a good trip, and good bowl of soup. It sounds like the soup was deserved and appreciated! Good for you!
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