I took a road trip to pick my daughter up after her summer visit down south.
On my drive, I brought the novel that I had just published because this is how I’m doing my marketing by getting pictures of all these neat places with my book.
I figured it was something fun and different.
Stopping by Bijoux waterfall, which I do almost every drive, and a couple took a selfie in front of the waterfall.
“I’ll take your pic if you take mine,” I offered.
The girl chuckled and said, “yes, please!”
As she handed me her phone, I said, “I didn’t bring my boyfriend, though. I brought my book.”
They both got a good laugh from that.
So I lined up their photo op, and, wow, the girl told her dog to sit, and he sat down and looked right at me and smiled. The girl’s boyfriend smiled handsomely as well; I must say, they are a good-looking couple. With an amazingly trained dog to boot!
This dog is wonderfully trained, I realized. Having four dogs myself, only one would sit nicely but most definitely would not look at the camera. My dog would look in every direction except the camera.
The girl tells me that her dog has been trained to take pictures.
Love it.
Time for my picture!
I have social anxiety, so as soon as I have to pose for someone, I become awkward. So I just stand and smile with my book in the air.
She asks if I want her perfectly trained dog in the photo, too. I say, “sure!”
The girl takes a couple more pictures and then asks if I want to check it. I say, “no, that’s okay,” but then she insists and says, “why don’t you check it, and I will take another?”
I look at the photo, and my shorts are sitting in a really horribly unflattering way. I laugh, fix my road trip jacked-up shorts and pose for another shot.
She then tries to fix a piece of my hair sticking straight out. I laugh and say, “I guess I’m more a mess than I thought.”
She says, “no, you’re gorgeous,” and takes a few more pictures.
I end up with a photo of me laughing with a stranger at a waterfall in the middle of the pine pass in the northern Rockies.
I appreciated this moment so much. Thank you, Sandy. You are a true angel and an example of how we should build each other up.
Be an angel,
Norma Rrae

Good marketing 🙂