KABAM – 2016

Spent a fun day in Kingman, AZ at their annual KABAM (Kingman Area Books Are Magic) festival. Lots of authors attended, at least 5 from Lake Havasu City. The three sitting near me in the author’s tent were from the Phoenix area. The variety of genres was quite varied, but there did seem to be a lot of fantasy and children’s books. To supplement the author sales, there were booths containing food, arts, crafts and clothing.

The planners worked hard and were so very accommodating to us authors. They had entertainment on a small stage from 10 am to 4 pm consisting of musicians, poets and story tellers.

The only drawback was lack of customers/readers. Most of the folks who stopped at my table to talk to me were authors who had tables themselves. I didn’t make many sales, but met some interesting folks. My favorite was a nine year old boy who kept coming back to my table to talk. He said he loved to read and intended to write his own book someday. I made him promise that he would write a ‘book’ and bring it to my table next year so I could read it. He said he loved fantasy and had many ideas of his own, especially regarding a character called ‘Flash’. I enjoyed his positive outlook on life and his promise to write his book. I’ll look for him at next year’s KABAM.

Mike, one of the moderators on the small stage, came around and interviewed the authors. He would take that info to the microphone and do a nice ad/promo for that author’s selection of books. When he did mine, he talked about my Farrell Family Saga series of books. He said the name, then spelled it out. Because, he joked, folks might think it was the ‘Feral’ Family. He laughed and said maybe they were feral which could make them a different kind of exciting reads. I do have to admit that, at times, some of the Farrell brothers have acted quite feral. Anyway, it was a cute promo and I thank Mike for it.

All in all, it was a good day and I came home motivated and hopeful. Those feelings, along with my memory of that nine year old potential author, reminded of this quote from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.”