At book signings, this author is often at a loss for words

Public readings are no problem, but the dutiful act of penning personal inscriptions is harder to muster.

By Robert Klose

from the April 12, 2007 edition

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I pride myself on never being at a loss for words when I sit down to write. As long as I have some idea of where I want to go with an essay, short story, or general article, I find that words elicit words, like the domino effect. The idea is to get started, and once I do, everything else tends to fall into place.

Thus it is with some measure of chagrin that I admit to one form of writing that is deeply challenging for me: the personal inscription.

For each of the books I have written, I have enthusiastically done public readings, which I greatly enjoy. But then comes the dutiful part – inscribing the books that my readers have been so kind as to purchase.

The first few go down like sugar, because I can draw upon my stock of time-tested phrases: best wishes, warm wishes, warmest wishes, kind regards.

Then the going gets tougher, because the writer in me dictates that I avoid repeating myself. If someone from outside my home state of Maine asks me for an inscription, I like to write, "With warmth from the North Country." Another of my favorites is "With best regards from the heart of Maine." But beyond this, I flail.

The bottom line is that I wish I could be more creative. I harbor a fantasy of being at the receiving end of an endless thread of original thoughts, so that every book I inscribe would contain something unique.

Alas, this fantasy has never been realized. Fortunately, my readers are generous of spirit and seem grateful simply to have an inscription with my name attached to it – well, usually.

A few years back, after giving a reading at a local bookstore, I was inscribing books for a long line of attendees. I noticed that one woman in the line was repeatedly firming her lips and scowling at me. This put me on edge, and I found it hard to concentrate on what I was writing. When she finally arrived at the head of the line she put her book down on the table in front of me and said, "Now listen, you're probably writing the same thing in everybody's book. I want something different."

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