Be yourself

Yesterday, I was attending another author signing at the Barnes and Noble in Thousand Oaks. Until now, I had only appeared at stores in the Inland Empire. This LA store felt different. Dorothy was not in Kansas anymore. Oz was scary.

And I realized, this is harder than I thought. Trying to be present. To be confident. To sell myself and my books required letting my insecurities go. 

To cope, I bought a double espresso. Downed it. That first hour, I sold a couple of books but mostly, I hummed to myself.

At one point, I looked at my watch. An hour left.  I shrugged with relief and thought, it's almost over.

Suddenly, it occurred to me, what the hell do I have to lose? I started chatting with people walking by. Using my personality and outgoing talkative nature paid off. I made so many connections in the last hour. I even stayed longer to sign more books for people stuck in line.  

I met a woman with her shih tzu disability dog, a man from Corona with three little girls, a cool couple screenwriter duo, two cousins from LA, a few theater kids and a grandmother and her gorgeous granddaughter. 

It was beautiful and in the moment right before I left, I took a deep breath and thought, I did it. 

What I realized yesterday was that if this self professed Inland Empire girl can let go and do LA bookstores, she can do anything. Anywhere. Anyhow. JEM needs to be herself. Be yourself people! Just be yourself. 

Shine on everyone.