Mr. Z attaches to face of book-signing celeb

I looked in the mirror Saturday morning about 30 minutes before the Winning Bet book signing, and the zit bulged out, nicely reddish, above my upper lip. Nobody gets zits above their upper lip but me. It never fails. Give me a high-stakes appointment, and I will show up with Mr. Z.

A newbie book signing celeb, I really didn’t think to get nervous about the book signing until a party the night before when people came up to me and told me they saw my name in lights every night this week when they drove home. Jax Ranch and Home stuck me up on their billboard. Serious stuff, one’s name up there in giant letters for the world to see,

especially if, horrors, it doesn't go well and everybody hates me.

It could be argued that I should have started getting ready for something like this four days early, thereby reducing stress. Like my character Emma Duncan however, I prefer the adrenaline-junky approach, so there I was in the 11^th hour, making the list, washing my hair, ironing civilized clothes, packing the list, deciding gee, maybe it would be a good idea to also print out business cards, and getting in a fight with Microsoft Word over repeatedly inserting a graphic into the Avery business card template. Like the preceding sentence, it was one giant run-on of trouble.

I even found one of my silver trophy buckles, which I only wear as intimidation gear, started buckling it to a belt, and dropped the buckle on my right foot. The toenail on the same foot sports a purple spot from about four months ago when one of the horses stepped on me during turnout. Now the top of that foot matches.

Other than that, the book signing Saturday at Jax Farm and Ranch in Fort Collins, Colorado went great! If you ever get a chance, you should ask to meet Lola Quinlan, their octogenarian book buyer, mother of the owner, and sharp as a tack. There is nothing this woman, of good Iowa stock, partly like myself, hasn’t done.

If you missed that signing, guess what? You get another chance this Saturday, 11 - 3 p.m. at the Jax in Loveland, Colorado, 950 E. Eisenhower, (970) 776-4540. Fueled by our success, we’ve decided to bring Winning Bet’s equine stars, Bonnie and Billy, for a petting-photo-fest. If you can't make this signing either, you can always get the book at Amazon (click on pink Amazon link, left) or Barnes and Noble online. Retailers, librarians, you can stock up for the usual trade discount at the Ingram Book Company. Happy trails!