How to fail at bringing cupcakes to your first Library Book Club visit:

1. Plan for two months to make cute mini nut-cakes like the ones in your book to bring to your first meeting with real readers who do not work with you, are not friends with you, and are not related to you.
2. Purchase ingredients for cute mini nut-cakes so you can bake them the night before the meeting.
3. Decide at 7PM the night before the meeting that it’s too dangerous to make nut-cakes, because what if someone has a nut allergy? Entertain dire visions of making readers literally allergic to your book.
4. Bake chocolate cupcakes instead. Realize they will need frosting (unlike nut-cakes). But you’re sure you have powdered sugar in the pantry, right? (right?)
5. Discover you have 1/3 c powdered sugar. Too late to go to the store now.
6. Stop on the way to work the next morning to get help from Betty Crocker. Leave can of frosting in car trunk.
7. On a day the temps go into the high 80s.
8. Learn just how disgusting hot molten canned frosting is.
9. Pick up new can on way to event.
10. Frantically frost cupcakes before book club people arrive (Bonus: this is helpful in distracting you from any nervousness about non-cupcake-related matters).
11. Get crumbs mixed into frosting, but oh well, they still taste good!
12. Sample one to be sure.
13. Spend the next hour talking with other people who love reading and love books and feel your heart swell with good will toward all readers, librarians, writers, and everyone involved in making and sharing all the wonderful books out there right now.
14) Happiness! (And not just from the sugar rush)
15) Go home. Put powdered sugar on the shopping list.

Cupcake failures aside, I had a wonderful time meeting with a small group of kids and adults who are part of a Book Club at the Lithgow Public Library in Augusta. It really makes me happy to meet with people who clearly love to read and love books. We talked about Fortune’s Folly a bit, but we also talked about other books they’ve enjoyed, and how a story makes the journey from rough draft to final printed book. The Book Club members were awesome and so is the staff at Lithgow Library, especially Robbi, who runs the Book Club (and is a potter as well!).

It was also a really nice way to warm up for a more official “talk” I’ll be giving next month (6:30 PM on Wednesday, June 17th for those who are interested!). One of the other amazing librarians, Sarah, had already put up a ton of flyers promoting the talk. I’m planning to discuss both the process of writing Fortune’s Folly, and fairy tale retellings and fantasy in general. If you’re local and are interested in attending let me know! I’d be happy to see some friendly faces!

Libraries are the best. They are even better than cupcakes!