This past Saturday I took my book directly to the masses and set up shop on one of the busiest beachfront sidewalks in the country (okay, I made that up, BUT, I would lay a bet that it actually is). Venice Beach California is famous for being its own little world.  If you can imagine it, you will find it at Venice Beach.  Guy on roller blades wearing a turban and a robe playing an electric guitar you say, check, he is there.  Man on roller skates wearing a black Speedo and devil horns on his head, yep, its been done.  I decided to set up there because the spaces to sell your art or trinkets, or books in my case, are all first come, first serve and free.  I did a lot of research to make sure because hey, this is CA and everything has a charge to it, except that apparently.  Upon arrival, my beautiful fiance and I strolled along the walk with no clue what to do, so we just kept walking.  Little piles of trash or “markers” as we found out, were reserving spaces for people.  We came to an opening and paused.  Just then, a friendly voice from the opposite side of the walk said “That space there, it’s open.  Put your stuff there, number 71.” Great, cool!  I walked over to him and introduced myself.  His name is Ahab, yep, like the captain in “Moby Dick”.  For the remainder of the day, Ahab schooled us on the process, the superstitions, (at one point he walked around his spot and ours slinging water all over the ground.  He said it was good luck to do this in his home country of Egypt, so why not here?) and rules as there is a lot of police presence these days.  Sales were light for us, but good for Ahab.  We took a lot of notes and have some ideas that I plan to put together before the next time we go.  It is a long, hot day, but one sale, one connection is all it takes to get energized.  The key, we found,  is to get people to come over to the table.  If we get them there, boom, sale!  I say this confidently because in the entire day, only two people came up to the table, but both bought a book.   The whole process looks to be like going camping.  The first time, you fumble about with everything, tent, cookware, campfire, but, after a few times out, you perfect your system and things are much smoother and fun.  I will continue to perfect the site and the process so more success will come of it.  #myaumakua #justkeepswimming #makemybookamovie #aloha #venicebeach