being a boy and the endless attempts to devise one I liked, from writing my name plainly to something I thought had more personhood, not just two words that signify 'I'
a link between story and author; in memoir, an attestation of truthfulness (as argued by Philippe Lejeune)
the time at the signing table that you get to speak to someone who is about to read your book (or not read it, depending)
the moment, after a person you know asks for a dedication, that you realise you've forgotten their name and you have to invent a ridiculous reason for them to say it out loud
absurd, if written over and over in a single sitting, as when you repeat any word too often
scribal, not printed; a sound as well as a mark
a term in the 1972 essay by Jacques Derrida, 'Signature Event Context'
in sales, considered damage to a product, rendering the book non-returnable to the publisher (a guaranteed sale)
and, this particular week, a morning at my publisher's office signing copies of The Sorrow Stone for Booktopia, an Australian online bookshop.
