(This is a continuation of the writing prompts suggested by Laura of the Phoenix Book Publishing and Marketing Group.)

Describe your first book signing – real or imagined.

My first book signing and presentation came about through the good graces of my Edward Jones representative (and I’m sure I didn’t imagine it.) He gave up his seminar date and time at a local retirement community so that I could do a reading from my book, accompanied by a doo-wop concert by my quartet, Lilac Crazy.

The reading, with the songs, is rather like a musical comedy presentation. I’ll read a segment from the book, and then the quartet sings a song that illustrates the selection. For example, when I read the part of the book about my lying, cheating second husband, the quartet sings “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”

My quartet and I have done two or three other book presentations, but the most memorable one took place this past June in my hometown, during the weekend celebration of the Fort Branch High School Bi-Annual reunion. I had made arrangements with the local public library to do a presentation there on Saturday afternoon, between the dedication of the new exhibit at the Old Gym and the alumni banquet at the Fort Branch Community School dining room. The Sunshine Girls, my old high school quartet (and they’re all my age, so “old” is applicable), sang the Doo-Wop songs normally performed by Lilac Crazy.

I was pleased to see that the library had put a big sign in the front lawn, advertising my doo-wop book presentation…you know, one of those signs-on-wheels that are used to advertise grocery-store openings. There were 44 people who came to the presentation––not a bad showing for such a small town. (They probably wanted to know if I’d written anything juicy about their neighbors.)

If there were one song that captured the meaning, spirit, message, energy, and/or substance of your book, what would it be? How can you use that song or piece of music to market your book or enhance your readers’ experience with your book?

There are two or three songs that my quartet, Lilac Crazy, perform regularly that capture the essence of the quartet, as well as my own personality. One is “Renaissance Woman.” The first line goes like this: “I’m just a Renaissance Woman, living in a Diet Coke world. I haven’t a limb that you could call slim, but Rembrandt would love me, he’d paint pictures of me.” I’m always on a diet––maybe that’s why I can never lose weight.

Another one of our favorite songs is a parody of the song “Memory” from the musical Cats. It illustrates a common problem that ALL of the quartet members have experienced: “I could swear I put those tickets right here in my wallet. Now I’m late––I thought the show starts at eight. I wrote that in my … whatchamacallit!”

But let’s face it…my book, D Is For Dysfunctional…and Doo-Wop, chronicles my life with four husbands and an assortment of men whom I cared for, but fortunately never married. So the song that nails it, for me, is “Why Do Fools Fall In Love.” And I believe that song sells the book.