My Amazing Book Signing Experience

By Loretta Livingstone

This is about my amazing book signing experience. it was not actually my first book-signing, but my second. I have only been writing books since 2011 and am not very well known yet, so I was really amazed to be invited. I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity that I thought I would make a lens about it. I hope you enjoy reading all about it. It was such an exciting time for me. I have M.E. so it was a huge effort, and took me about a week to recover, but anyway dreams do come true.

I wrote my first book in September 2011, and then went on to write my 2nd book, "Hopes, Dreams and Medals" which was inspired by watching the World Championships in November 2011. I was so impressed by the dedication of the athletes, and their hopes and dreams as the 2012 Olympic games drew ever closer, that I started writing poems about both summer and winter sports. I sent a copy to the British no 1 female javelin thrower who said she really liked it but thought it needed to be longer. So I put my brain back into gear and managed to double the size of it. If I hadn't written this book, I think it is possible that I would never have been invited to do the book signing, as it seems to have captured the interest of quite a few amateur and professional athletes. Since then I have gone on to write my third, more conventional book, Jumping in the Puddles of Life.

Please note: All photographs here, except the last one, are either my property or the property of Inspirational Photography Ltd (Lensmaster NickyLou) and should not be copied or used elsewhere. The final one is courtesy of Paul Dobson Photography Ltd.

Back in November I was contacted by one of my followers on Twitter. He was going to be holding a big, Black Tie Charity Ball in March and wondered if I would be prepared to donate any of my books. He is a marathon runner, and was particularly interested in my book "Hopes, Dreams and Medals". I was happy to donate this and my third book, "JUMPING in the PUDDLES of LIFE" along with a Tee Shirt with the words "Hopes, Dreams, Medals" printed on it.

Bookcover provided by Inspirational Photography Ltd (Lensmaster NickyLou)

I was so thrilled to be asked to donate. Little did I know the best was yet to come. I received another email from my contact. This time he was inviting me to not just attend the Ball with my husband, but to do a book-signing there too! Wow! Only my second ever book signing, and this was such a prestigious event! And I get to wear an evening gown too? Bonus! So - did I accept? Did I ever! And better yet, the other person invited to attend was Team GB Marathon Runner Aly Dixon! Wow! What an honour.

It helps to have some ideas about the "How To" of event planning. I thought these books might give you some idea about what planning needs to be done if you are thinking of holding a charity event. If it is your first ever event it would be wise to do some research before you get started. It's good to try to raise money for Charity this way, but you need to be sure that you don't end up out of pocket too. If I was planning a charity event I would definitely do my research first. I hope these books help.

So, for one night only, I got to feel like a celebrity. I don't know if I will ever be invited to do anything like this again, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I even got to do something useful. What a fantastic adventure. And I even got presented with a huge bouquet! What a wonderful night.

Take a look at this! What a wonderful venue.

This is the Tee Shirt I designed to donate to the Charity, which was Children with Cancer. The photograph is from the front page of the book and was taken by Nicola Louisa Sharp whose bio you can find at the bottom of this page. I used Vistaprint to design the Tee Shirt.

This is the Charity which the Ball was being held for

So I got to wear my fabulous (hired) evening gown, and sign books at this prestigious event (and donate a percentage of each book sold to Children With Cancer Charity). And in April 2013 Paul Cooke, who organised this amazing event, went one step further and ran in the London Marathon.

Share one of your exciting moments (you don't have to be a member of squidoo to join the chat)

Have you had anything really exciting happen to you recently?

Photograph courtesy of www.pauldobsonphotography.co.uk

.....that three of my books are now available on Amazon Kindle, including my first novelette, Where Angels Tread, a story about a teenage runaway. They are priced at US $ 2.47 and $2.64 GBP 1.53 and 1.66 and also available in other currencies. Why not treat yourself?

Another milestone! I now have an author profile and blog on Goodreads. If you want to come and visit me there follow the link.

You can visit me at my Facebook group, where you can read more of my work and chat to me. I would love to meet you there.

Since I wrote this lens, another exciting thing has happened. Somebody bought one of my books - Hopes, Dreams & Medals - and then contacted me to ask me to write an exclusive poem for a film they are producing about Athletes, and the reason they do what they do. The Film and Poem are both called Why Do We Do It, and you can find out more about them on my other lens (details below) or on twitter at #whydowedoit

I'm delighted to say that the National Poetry Anthology have requested my permission to include my poem "I Am Woman" in their latest book, "Between The Lines" to be published later this year.

I'd love to hear from you (you don't have to be a member of Squidoo to comment)