I've been through so many fairs where people were selling stuff, trying to avoid making eye contact or engaging the sellers in any way. Now I have been on the other end of things a few times, and am wryly amused by what I see.

I attended one very well organized event at a hotel in Salem. Even though we had rain and sleet, we got pretty good pedestrian foot traffic. I had my laptop all set up to show YouTube videos of the troupe, but the location didn't have wi-fi so I showed a DVD of a rather sedate interview about the book.

At one point, my friend Helen covered my booth while I went outside and handed out flyers. People love free stuff. At someone's suggestion, instead of using the words "book signing," I used "free coffee and doughnuts downstairs!" Everyone was grateful to get the free flyer, but only a small handful entered the hotel. I sold two copies and took Helen and her boyfriend out to lunch.

At a recent holiday fair, I started to watch people. I was located in the corner with all my usual stuff. Even though it was a company that did on-line periodicals, no wi-fi, so I was back playing my interview. To pass the time, I had my friend Terry come by with his guitar so we could rehearse a couple of ballads I'd written.

I started to do impressions of the people who'd come by. They would stand a couple of feet from the table with their hands in their pockets, bending over to look at the book covers. A couple of them would gingerly open the cover and turn a couple of pages. It was as if they actually picked up the book, the tiny bear trap concealed inside would snap shut on their fingers--or I would suddenly lunge across the table, tackle them, and grab their wallets. No sales that day!

The highlight of that event was actually jamming with Terry. We'd start out as if we were rehearsing in private and build in volume. As we were launching into our third practice of "The Ballad of Bongo and the Three Cats," an important work about my cat taking back the neighborhood after ear surgery, I looked around and the women in the surrounding booths were giving me wry, disbelieving smiles.

"Yes, ladies," I wanted to tell them. "I am utterly without shame!"