Thank you for your comments!

As the comments from the evaluation forms started pouring in this afternoon, I was absolutely captivated by what all of you had to say.

Thank you for commenting. Your remarks will help us do a better job next year. As far as I can tell (at this point in time), the camp is split 50/50 on the use of tickets for the event. Either you loved the idea or you hated the idea. For those of you who expressed concern over the length of time it took to receive your ticket, please accept my apologies. The Arkansas Center for the Book is a one-person office, and when I became ill at the beginning of October, there was no one in the office to do my job for me. I was the one who listened to all of the voice mail, read all of the email, created the database, contacted all of you, and printed all of the tickets. My colleagues helped me prepare the envelopes and letters; they cut the tickets and stuffed the envelopes.

Ms. Harris's appearance was not random or unattached; she was part of a larger program. Ms. Harris's appearance was the pinnacle of the statewide reading program, If All Arkansas Read the Same Book, which is one of the projects of the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library. While some of you who attended the event may not be familiar with this reading program, it has been in existence since 2001 when we featured our first author, Terry Kay and his book, To Dance with the White Dog. We are celebrating our ten-year anniversary this year, so there was a need for a longer greeting at the beginning of the program, to explain why we were there. We have been celebrating our ten-year anniversary since March, and we will continue through December, when the reading program concludes. I hope that you will continue to participate in the reading program through December.

Some of you expressed regret over not getting to ask Charlaine your question. Unfortunately, that was the case for so many of us, including me.

The concept behind the smaller venue was to give you a closer experience with Ms. Harris. We could have filled a 1,000 seat auditorium, and we considered the idea for a long time. After much consideration, though, we decided that a smaller venue would allow everyone to "get up close and personal" with Charlaine Harris. Isn't that everyone's dream?

I understand your concern over the empty seats in the Lecture Hall. Please be aware that tickets that were cancelled were filled from the will-call list up until 45 minutes of the event start time. Those empty seats were no-shows of which we were unaware and not informed.

For those of you who have been wondering about the "one book limit" . . . Ms. Harris's book-signing time constraints are designated by her publisher, not by the Arkansas Center for the Book. If everyone brought more than one book, we would still be there . . . and Ms. Harris would still be signing books. Take heart, though. Ms. Harris is a popular speaker, particularly in Arkansas. Please check her website, www.charlaineharris.com for her future appearances.

Please keep those comments coming as you complete the evaluation form. They are invaluable!

Thank you,
Crystal