TELL NO LIES made it to Australia!

I let out my own little whoop when I saw the following post from my Australian friend Davina at Inked-In. Here's what she wrote:

Julie Compton hits Australia - I "Tell No Lies"

My copy found and bought today is here on my desk. That was sleakly done, lass :) I was checking the new releases for my pleasure reading because I'm down to only a dozen or so in reserve (you gotta keep a bunch in case you have to go through them to find one that suits your mood), and there it was, brazen as you like and not a word of warning. When I saw it let out a whoop, and the girl came over to see what had excited me so. She giggled when I told her about you, Julie, and said she wished she knew people who wrote the books she puts on the shelves and how interesting these writer must be. I put her straight, knowing you wouldn't mind :-)Then she wanted to know what you looked like, no picture came with the books. Next thing I know I have a wee bunch of the staff around me. Hopefully they will now feel like they know you and push Tell No Lies and get more in. I offered to do a signing on your behalf but they didn't take me up on it :O)

What great news to wake up to on a Friday morning . . . Now I have to tell my brother (who lived there for many years) so he can tell all his friends! :-)

Gooey Butter Cake, Savannah, Dave Matthews Band, Tell No Lies . . .

Well, the Gooey Butter Cake just came out of the oven and in a few minutes I'll abandon one writing activity (another read-through of Book 2, which -- though it's already gone to the editors -- keeps pulling me back to make more changes while I wait for their comments) to get ready for another (my booksigning at the Savannah Barnes & Noble tonight).

Those who have attended some of my booksignings know that I like to bake St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake to offer to anyone who stops by my table. (Sorry, St. Louis folks, I didn't do this when I was there at Left Bank Books in May, but I'm planning to for my July visits to the Borders in Ballwin!) It's a yummy little tie-in to the book for no other reason than it's a St. Louis specialty and Tell No Lies is set in St. Louis. But people seem to enjoy it and I enjoy sharing it with them (whether they buy a book or not).

Tonight should be low key compared to some of the other signings I've done because, except for my friend and former colleague Frank and his wife Liz (see post about Savannah), I don't know anyone in Savannah. Frank was kind enough to circulate an announcement about the event to everyone at the law firm where he works and to the Savannah bankruptcy bar listserve. Now that's friendship! But I'm still expecting it to be quiet. After all, most people won't show up for a booksigning of someone they don't know. Best to set expectations low and consider anything else mere icing on the cake. (Not on the Gooey Butter Cake though; it's sweet enough without icing . . .)

This will be the last signing for awhile, until I'm back in St. Louis in mid-July. I've got a lot of good stories to tell from my trips, and I hope to have the time to blog about a few of them in the next weeks. I've also come across a few really interesting articles lately (some about writing, some about politics) that I want to blog about. I'm making myself a list . . .

Until then, I think I'm due for a Dave Matthews Band mention. I ran across this blog post, and whether you like DMB's music or not, you gotta love this (scroll down to the June 22, 2008 entry). Say what you will, but Dave is just a stand up (no pun intended) sort of guy.