Mom and I want to personally thank Victoria Park and its residents for the support shown at our first book signing. We had many viaitors and buyers for our book and the first book by published children’s author Allyn Stotz. Many of the residents then sat in the recreation room with us and kept us company and read our book while they shared the homemade cookies my brother Mark and my daughter Christina made for the event.

We appreciate not only your financial support but the time you took to encourage us, tell us how proud you are of your fellow resident and the effort to keep these first-time authors entertained! It was well worth a few cookies!!

F. Sharon Swope and Genilee Swope Parente

And mom adds:

Our first book signing is over, and we deem it a great success – we sold 18 books of “Twist of Fate” and 5 books written by the youngest Swope daughter (Allyn Stotz – The Pea in Peanut Butter). We learned a few things while doing this first book signing. First, don’t get in a stew if the books haven’t arrived as soon as you expected them. Because of the holidays, ours finally arrived the Friday before our book signing on Monday morning. Our thanks go to Spectacle, our publisher for pushing to get them here in time. We had decided to go ahead with the signing even if the books didn’t arrive – just take orders. But the books came, and our worry was all for naught.
Second, put a piece of cardboard between receipt slips. This we didn’t do, and the receipts are almost impossible to read as the pen went through to the next row of receipts. It’s a mess, to say the least. Still, two minor hiccups in a major success don’t mean much!
We want to thank all who came and shared our big day with us, as well as our wonderful publisher and the marketing team, and Victoria Park for hosting the signing. We’re ready to go at it again!