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Nora Roberts's |
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Debs's Report from Philadelphia (West Chester)
My day started with great joy and excited in expectation of that evenings signing in West Chester at the Chester County Books. Just the thought of not only seeing Nora again, but all of the rest of my buddies from Adwoff had me totally bouncing off the walls in glee. Not even my boss being cranky (trying to be polite here) was enough to drag me down, even though it did dampen a smidge of my enthusiasm. Oh well, I AM GETTING TO SEE NORA AGAIN, AND THERE IS NOTHING TO STOP ME!!!! I arrive fairly early, although Kelly and Debbie did beat me there, which totally cracked me up since they both came from Maryland and I was just up the road a short clip at work!!! Debbie has got her "Hooked" t-shirt on, so I put mine on and then proceed to nag at Kelly to put hers on. Of course, we have to take a quick tour and sniff of my new Escape. While outside we are wondering if Sue if going to be coming, when looky who comes driving up—Sue!!!! Woo hoo!!! She made it, so now we can give her lots of hugs and support.
Once again, inside, we start saving seats for folks as it is starting to fill up, and it isn't even 5:30pm yet!!!! The Jeans are coming, and are bringing PJ and Mary!! Yeah, Mary's first expedition out of the house! Call Brandi, she is running late. Receive a call from Brandi, little Isabel has declared that they must go see Aunt Debby at the book store (Isabel and Alex both LOVE books!). Save a seat for her, exchange lots of witty repartee with a grump, talk and giggle and mingle with friends and strangers a like!!!
Side note: it really cracked me up that others not with Adwoff mistook those of us in our "Hooked on Nora" t-shirts as staff, and continually asked us questions or for our help! Sue was VERY helpful explaining what kinds of questions were real groaners, and already had been answered a million times before.
It is now 6:30pm, and here comes Nora!!! So pretty, and not looking as if she has been on the road for a couple weeks to do book signings!! She sees us scattered around, and gives a big smile. As she is starting the Q&A my cellphone rings (sorry, Nora!), and it is Brandi calling me from the children's section—she gets her and the kids over to me so that the children can sit in the chairs while Brandi sits on the floor (until she has to sneak out to actually purchase Northern Lights) and I stand beside the kids.
It feels like the Q&A was quick, but it was a full ½ hour!!! I am not good with remembering specific questions, but luckily only one person had to ask about Eve and Roarke having a baby.Obviously this person didn't pay any attention to Sue!!!
Then the signing portion of the night begins. The decision was made that those in the seats would go first, so that the chairs could then be removed out of the way. Since I was there early, Brandi was able to go through the line from the second row which was great considering that the children were tired but had remained very well behaved the entire time. Brandi was so pleased to hear her children respond "thank you" to Nora, when she offered them M&M's and they also each only took one! My turn, and Nora is pleased that I don't again have a huge stack of backs for her to sign. I mention that I was just trying to stagger my purchases, as I was that evening picking up two more Christmas presents and getting my GMA copy of Blue Dahlia signed. Take some more pictures. Give her another package of brownies, with the reminder to not eat and drive!
Now we are just waiting for the others to go through the line, as we are planning on going for food afterwards. While waiting, I help take the children out to their car so that I can go past the Nora table to see if the audio copies have arrived yet. YES!!! Out to the car, buckle the munchkins in, give and receive kisses, and drive carefully!! Back inside, I now have to purchase two unabridged audio's—one cassette and one cd—stand in line to pay again. Stop by the service desk for post its and to thank Andy for all of his help. He is so sweet, he had already taken a cassette copy up to Nora for me!!! Ooops, sorry!!!
Find Tami farther back in the line. Ask if she will take them through to get signed instead of me getting in line again—she will, since she didn't have anything to get signed anyway! Whew!!! Thank you, Tami!!!
I must admit, that the new controls put on Nora's book signings were very beneficial. Instead of being there for hours upon hours, Nora was done with the regular and stock signings before 8:30pm! So that left us with some time to joke and talk with her, and of course to get a group shot!! That picture will definitely make it here to work for permanent display!
Since Nora had to head to her hotel due to an am radio call, she was unable to join us for dinner, but at least she was leaving us well prepared with snacks for the rest of her tour. So the rest of us (Sue, Suz, Mama Jean, JB, Mary, PJ, Tami, Lynn, Debbie, Jenn, Kelly and me) head over to the Stadium Grille for food—it's nice that it is real close so the distance travelers don't have far to go, and are able to stay in familiar territory. While waiting, we get to listen to Suz complete her reading of the Halloweiner—what a hoot!!! Then all the applause and high fives—as we get called to collect our dinners. The food, the merriment, the fun, the phone call to Jeannie (who was greatly missed)—it was all wonderful, and such a great way to end the evening.
I am sure that I have forgotten much more than I have noted here, so read all of the other reports for any gaps in my memory!!! It was great fun, and well worth the worry it caused dear Elmer earlier with my vague descriptions of where I would be—he actually asked me if there was another man!!! No, well, not a REAL man anyway!!! He was very glad to hear what a wonderful time we had, and thanks you for keeping me out of trouble? ha ha!!!
Until next time (ahem, Maggiano's!),
Debby
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