Is Page 99 REALLY My Best?

I found a fun little website the other day for authors. You upload a brief description of your book, and then page 99 from your book. Then anyone who cares to can read your submission and comment on whether or not they'd read your book!

The whole concept here is that by page 99 you've settled into your rhythm and style-you're no longer over thinking every word, you have any idea where you're going-or you should!-and the real writer in you is starting to show up: good, bad or ugly!

I'm not so sure about the concept. If you are being totally honest (and you know the Pollyanna in me made me be a good girl--well, pretty good!) and posting your real page 99, it's kind of a crap shoot what you come up with. Some page 99's are full of action, thrills, spills and S-E-X. Others find your protagonists in a contemplative mood, which a reader might not totally appreciate if they haven't already covered 98 pages of character development.

I've posted page 99 from both The Shell Keeper and Framed (my upcoming book) and if ever there were two different as night and day examples, I think these are the two! Check them out, see what you think, and let me know what you think of the whole Page 99 concept.

The Shell Keeper: http://www.page99test.com/read-my-page/1515

Framed: http://www.page99test.com/read-my-page/1539

Signing Books...My New Frontier!

So I'm finding that occasionally someone will show up with a copy of my book that they'd like me to sign. And this sensation is...exciting and intimidating all in one! Oh, the history of book signing. When I look back at some of the exquisite signatures of my favorite authors, or the carefully plotted sentiments they expressed alongside their names, I feel the weight of a tradition pressing down upon me. And I feel an obligation to do it right! Or at least, in a way that's right for me.

Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions of greatness here. I simply feel that, when someone has gone to such great trouble and expense as to purchase my book and actually read it-AND they still want me to sign it, well, I want to do it right! I've been reading up on what others do, and thinking about myself.

I suppose it's not right to say, 'Thanks for buying my book!' though I'm sure for many authors that's the first thing they think-at least in the early years! But I also feel compelled to do more than simply sign my name behind a trite 'Yours Truly'.

I'm not a big signature collector myself, but then, I saw this one online (pictured here) and have to admit that Anne Morrow Lindbergh's signature (the author of Gift From the Sea) would be a treasure for me.

So, to each his own! If you ask for it, I'll do my best...just be patient with me, I'm learning!