On the spot.

As I have shared more than a few times on this site, I am not comfortable talking about WHOSS. I never know quite how to describe it; how to tell people what it's about.

Sadly, this was played out in real-time and living color yesterday at the big event.

Happily, the recipient of my word vomit was a volunteer working the event, and she was supremely forgiving.

Even more happily, Rebecca was at my side, and between the two of us, we came up with a succint and appropriate "elevator pitch."

Potential Reader: What's your book about?

Nervous Author: In a nutshell, it's about money, sex, the choices we make and the realization that we don't get to cherry-pick the consequences of those choices.

To which one smartly-dressed woman replied, "Ah, so it's about life."

How cool is that?

Things took an upturn after we established our pitch. I sold more than 10 but fewer than 20 copies of the book and met some fellow authors, with whom I swapped stories about the frustration of this business. Check out the works of R. Mariel Martin and Tom McCloud.