The Big July - back home

With a glorious three days off so close that I could taste them, I just had two more days of store appearances to go.
After arriving back home at 10.30pm from Adelaide, it was up early the next day to see my son's soccer team fight out a thrilling 3-3 draw before hading up the road to Leading Edge Books, Lakehaven.
This is a fantastic store, run by two lovely people, Sue and Howard, and they are always well prepared for me coming up there. They've been great supporters and it is the fourth time I have been to their store, which is always a pleasure.
There were people waiting for me there, which is always nice to see, including Prema and Tyce, who have had me sign all three of their books now!
It's funny though - when I talk to bookstores, they always want me out there on a Saturday. But, to be honest, I find Saturday one of the hardest days. Everyone is in a rush and it's hard to get them to stop and talk.
So it proved at my second stop for the day, at Erina Dymocks. This store is in a great location and had set up a fantastic window display for me.
There was a small queue of people waiting there, including Max, who is the only person to have contacted me on MySpace so far!
My older sister Julia was also there to get a couple of books signed for a friend and it was great to see so many friendly faces.
Sadly, it was a struggle to get anyone to stop and talk that afternoon, although I still sold more than 20 books there.
Contrast that with Sunday, when I headed up to A+R Kotara. This is in a major shopping centre in Newcastle and was my third visit to that store.
On the Sunday, people were willing to stop and talk and I racked up 26 books sold ... I sold out of WGs and was about to go, only for them to rush off to the storeroom and return with more!
But the break seemed to have triggered a shift in the rush of people outside and I was only able to sell one more book after that.
It strange - sometimes you just get on a roll and feel that every person who walks by is a fantasy reader, ready and eager to talk to you and, perhaps, pick up a copy. Then the feeling goes and nobody is interested.
Whether all that is in my mind or not is another matter.
During the month, I have experimented with combinations of shirts and pants, as well as seeing if wearing a particular pair of undies provides more luck than others!
It's not a particularly scientific experiment and seems to have proved that no pair of undies is luckier than others, while no shirt seems to get more positive reaction than another. But the time of day and the day itself do seem to all have an effect!
So I'm off on a mini-break, gearing up for four days of frantic store appearances which, I hope, will see me break through the 1000 books mark.
Wit the counter sitting at 853, the end is in sight - literally and figuratively.