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I had a lovely time tonight kicking off the Friends of the Library Summer Seminar series with a talk on Florida Piracy in the 19th C. There was a much larger turnout than I expected and we packed the little airconditioned office at the "bookhouse", the warehouse where the FoL has their twice a year booksales to raise extra funds for the Alachua County Library District.

The crowd was enthusiastic though, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly, talking about researching pirates, sharing Florida history, and the joy of a profession where it's "work" to drive to St. Augustine for the day and walk the streets to get a feel for how life was in the 18th C. town.

I played it smart and didn't drink the offered wine during my program. I made the mistake last year at Worldcon in Scotland of taking advantage of my free drink chit before my program. Not a pretty sight.

I also had some sales after the talk, and while that was helpful, the best part was just getting out there and sharing my work with a whole new audience. And soon we're off to the state Bar Convention! Those lawyers need more romance in their lives. I'll pack plenty of copies of my books.

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