 Nora's
Carolina
Moon Tour 2000
Auntie's
Spokane, Washington
Tuesday, April 4
April 4th...a day which will live in
infamy...well, maybe not infamy, but it's certainly
a date I and all the other Nora fans in Spokane
will long remember. It's the day Nora finally made
it to our fair city!
As the Public Relations Officer for the local
chapter of RWA this was a day the other officers
and I had been preparing for for months. We printed
out and distributed flyers, prepared press kits and
hand-delivered them to the local media, and made
special effort to contact as many reading groups in
the area as we could. We also began arranging a
wine and cheese reception for Nora at one of the
local hotels near the bookstore.
On the day Nora arrived my sister and I went out
to the airport bearing gifts of chilled champagne
and gourmet chocolates. After some confusion (the
dreaded Alaska Airlines strikes again!) we were
directed to the correct gate, and were able to get
there just as the plane arrived. Nora was among the
first off, looking, poor dear, completely
exhausted. There was another mix-up with the
luggage..(it seemed it had arrived on an earlier
flight) and then we said goodbye to Nora and her
escort and headed back to the hotel where the
reception was to be held.
Nora arrived just as the reception was starting,
and the local members of RWA and our invited guests
were delighted by how warm and charming Nora was to
all of us. The local paper and a weekly magazine
had both done very large articles on Nora, and so
we had high hopes of a good turn out at Aunties. I
was optimistically hoping for 100-150.. a huge turn
out for Spokane...but when we got there we found a
crowd of over 300 had gathered!
Nora did an hour long Q&A with the audience,
and had everyone laughing and applauding. Of course
we all know how nice Nora is, and it was sort of a
kick to watch her effortlessly charm the overflow
crowd. I kept hearing people saying "She's just
like her books!" and "Isn't she wonderful?" and I
have to say I felt rather like a proud mama
watching her little tyke wowing the PTA. *-)
After her talk she went downstairs and started
signing books. The line was beyond huge...winding
its way through the store, and many of the ladies
(and gentlemen) who were lined up had several
copies of CAROLINA MOON and Nora's paperbacks
stacked in their arms. The next day when I called
the store they told me they has sold 115 copies of
CM...a record for that store, and dozens of Nora's
paperbacks. Nora's escort, Marcie, was equally
amazed. In fact, she even remarked to me "There are
more people here than were here for Dan Quayle!"
LOL!!!
Anyway, Nora's visit is among THE most
successful signings ever held in Spokane, and we
are hoping it will be enough to persuade Putnam to
send Nora back to see us on some future tour.....
JoanOver
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