Thanks to everyone who made it to the San Francisco reading!

I realize this post is a week late, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who made it to Booksmith to catch my reading in San Francisco! The reading was a major success, in no small part thanks to the efforts of Meg from A Practical Wedding. Meg not only convinced me that flying with a baby wasn't going to be THAT bad (it wasn't), and also made sure there were more than 5 people there. (Which is about how many peopled showed up the last time I read in SF, when the book first came out in 2007. I'm still traumatized.)

For more photos (the amazing Christina Richards and Emily Takes Photos were both in attendance!), and some of my favorite questions & answers, keep reading!

There were about fifty people at Booksmith, which meant standing room only!

For the reading, I read from my new introduction (which nods at this post) and the new chapter about budgeting. Since Meg wrote a sidebar for the budget chapter, I pulled her up to the podium to read her section.

Andreas and Tavi flew down with me, and were lurking around the bookstore while I did the reading.

After reading the intro and chapter, I opened the floor to questions. Interestingly, there more comments than questions, causing me to exclaim, "THIS READING IS JUST LIKE A BLOG! ALL COMMENTS!"

The crowd had lots of great questions, including "How many comments do you delete off the site?" (each week it's maybe a dozen bitchy comments, and way more comments from vendors trying to pimp their services) and "Why do you think people submit their weddings to be featured?" (validation seeking, sharing their joy, and ok fine maybe a little attention whoring).

My favorite question though came from a reader named Kira, who asked me how to craft memoir writing in a way that inspires and encourages people, instead of just coming off as self-centered.

"First," I said, "Thanks for that." (I think any memoir writer should always question whether they just come off as obnoxiously self-absorbed. Because we often do.) Then I tried to put into words this theory I have about how, when you write about yourself, you have to include the full narrative, including your challenges, your imperfections, and your humbling moments. When you share the difficult stuff, you encourage readers to relate to your process ... so that then when you get to the successes, it's not just OMG YAY I'M SO AWESOMEZ!!! but rather "If I made it through this challenge and found success, then you can too."

I'm still thinking about that question though.

Then the book store manager waived her hands at me in a way that said "ENOUGH QUESTIONS!" and it was time to sign books and chat with people.

My favorite part of the reading was how many folks brought their copies of the first edition with them. I'm sure the book store wasn't so happy about that, but I loved seeing all the dog-eared copies of the first edition.

Eventually all the books were signed and while Meg was heading off to have drinks with APW readers, I had a sleepy baby and was ready to go back to my aunties' house and collapse.

Thank you so so soooo much again to everyone who made it. And for those of you who didn't make it, there will eventually be a video of the reading online (I'll post it when it shows up!), and if you have any questions you would have asked ... you can always ask them in the comments! There might be some great fodder for Reader Questions.