Festival!

On May 31, I will participate in my first book festival as a full-time author/artist. The Sacramento Book Festival (info below) is free to attend. There will be a food truck, panels to see, and authors to get autographs from. And of course, there’s the bag of books you take home for your to be read pile!

It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time. I’m no stranger to events. I’ve done the Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention for the last ten years, but our Author’s Alley is a relatively small and cozy family. In fact, part of our Clockwork Family, the amazing T.E. MacArthur, Sharon Cathcart, and B.J. Sikes, will also have tables at the festival.

But for me, this is different. This is one unassuming hedgehog getting a table in the big leagues with 124 other authors, including names like James Rollins and Jennifer Morita (whose debut novel, Ghosts of Waikiki, is AWESOME and takes place where I grew up!)

Did I mention terrifying?

It’s not really imposter syndrome. I believe in my writing and my art. I know in my heart I belong and that there are people who will enjoy my work and people who won’t. That’s the life of a creative, and I accept it whole heartedly.

It’s more that at events, my enthusiasm and my size can be intimidating to guests. I like to think I’m more Baymax than Godzilla, but like everything else I do, I somehow end up dancing on the line between them. Gojira-san isn’t really scary (unless you’re King Ghidorah) but sometimes peeps just see the kaiju and not the warm fuzzy insides.

Sooooo, I made a swag bag to help with that. Inside that bag are little goody bags for anybody that stops by my table. They include a sticker and a button and a fortune card telling you what it means that you picked a particular button (there are six different ones). Plus, if you pick the special goody bag, you win a prize.

If you’re in the Sacramento area on the 31st, I hope you’ll drop by the festival, see a whole anthology of authors (we have a collective noun…who knew?). Please visit my table to check out my books and my art and get a goody bag. I promise I don’t bite.

The Sacramento Book Festival will take place on May 31 from 10:00 to 4:00. Shepard Garden and Arts Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd in Sacramento, across from Mckinley Park.