To Market/Birthday Cake

The evolution of the book has moved to the marketing phase. This part isn't quite so much fun but sparks us up when we make sales. I am repeatedly thinking of "Death of a Salesman." Just about the time my brain starts focusing on this tragic play, however, we make some sales and I feel inspired to be in the marketing department again. We have three big venues and a book-signing coming up in November so our fingers get cramped from being perpetually crossed.
I set up a little table at my school's recent Community Fair. I sold a few books and had some interesting conversations with students about owls and other birds with which the speakers had had intimate experiences in one way or another. I really liked that.
But the most interesting part of the experience was learning from the vendors on either side of me. On my right was a young man representing a credit union. I thought, "Oh sure, fella. These are college students. They never have any money. Some can't even afford books for my classes! You are in for one lonely afternoon." Was I ever wrong. First thing after draping his table and setting out promotional materials, he heaped a BIG pile of candy right on to the middle of his table. That drew possible customers like flies. By the end of the day, he had signed up a good handful of customers who flashed cash at him like report cards with all A's on them. It was the candy that did it. Next time, I'll have my own supply of candy. After all, this is a children's book we're marketing, so I would love to draw attention to our booth with food.
And that brings me to my next topic: cake. My mother had a cake recipe that she said came from the historic Comstock family in California. Those folks, you'll recall, made a boat load of money from the gold mines. California history at its finest. Anyway, this particular cake recipe supposedly came to us from a maid in that household to the oldest sister in my mother's household. Every year since I was a kid and on into the years of my own children and now to the grandchildren, we have this cake. First my mother made it and now I make it. It's a chocolate cake made with buttermilk and leavened with vinegar and baking soda fizzed up and quickly stirred in at the last moment. The cake is definitely not a store "boughten" cake because it its crumb is smooth, and its taste is just this side of almost tangy due to the buttermilk and vinegar. It is my favorite dessert and the favorite dessert of other family members as well. But only two of us knows how to make it-my daughter and me. And Amy hates, HATES to cook so I'm left to carry on the tradition. Amy will make one every few years just to satisfy me that she can do it. So we will celebrate the fall family birthdays tomorrow (including mine) with The Cake which I baked and iced with the usual cream cheese frosting and the chocolate drips down the sides and swirled on the top. I will teach my granddaughters how to bake The Cake as soon as is humanly possible.