'Small Town News' signing set for Thursday

The first signing for my book, "Small Town News," as I write this is only about 37 hours away and I am looking forward to it. It comes in the middle of one of the busiest weeks I have had in a long time. So many things have been going on that I have had little time to check in on this blog.
The signing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Neosho/Newton County Library. It is my understanding that I will speak for about 15 to 20 minutes, then sign copies of the novel. I will have a little over 40 copies there. I look forward to seeing some of you.
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In other updates on the "Small Town News' front, I was interviewed Monday by Max McCoy of the Joplin Globe for a story concentrating on bloggers in the Joplin area, but the novel was also touched upon during the interview. I understand the article will likely be published toward the end of the month.
The novel finally made the ranking on Amazon.com. After leapfrogging all the way up to number 173,000, I have rapidly plummeted to lower than 400,000, which simply tells me that not many people are ordering it through Amazon.com, but by golly, someone must have.
I have an appointment for Saturday with the book manager at Hastings, at which time hopefully, I will have a place lined up where people can buy the book in Joplin, as well as setting up a signing for sometime next month.
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The novel has definitely not been the only thing keeping me hopping this week. Teachers at South are preparing for something else which is scheduled for Thursday night...parent-teacher conferences, which will take place right after school. Teachers have been contacting parents and setting up appointments and, of course, we will accept any drop-in traffic we get. I am not expecting many parents. Thanks to the school's ZAP (Zeros Aren't Permitted) program, I am seeing fewer students falling behind and failing due to missing papers.
I have also had the pleasure these past few days of reviewing approximately 120 essays for the annual Joplin Elks Lodge Essay Contest. The topic this year is "What Do I See When I Look Up at the American Flag." I have read some touching essays, as well as some disturbing ones from students who have no feelings whatsoever for the symbol of this nation.
And we have also had one practice Tuesday and another one scheduled for after school today for the Academic Bowl team, which for the first time this year will participate in a year-long competition with other middle schools in the area. The schools meet about once a month, with each get-together taking place at a different school and touching on a different area. Our first competition, Monday, Oct. 24, after school at Carl Junction, will center around language arts.
The Journalism Club which I sponsor will not be meeting this Thursday due to the parent-teacher conferences, but we are working on developing a news program for JET (Joplin Eagles Television) 14, the R-8 School District television station, which can be seen on Cable One. The students have also been writing stories for the Room 210 website and also have added streaming video to the site for the first time. It has been an exciting time for them and for their teacher.
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Natural Disaster will be back in action a week from Saturday as the headlining group at a motorcycle rally at East Newton classmate Paul Richardson's Sane Mule Motorcycle Shop, near Neosho on the way to Boulder City. We are scheduled to play there at 11:30 a.m. We had a good practice last night in Newtonia.
Well, it's about time to head for school, so I will catch you later.