Since the wily, elusive publication date of my first book is still a year and a half away, I’m not yet doing any author visits, but the occasional invitation does come my way.

Yesterday, I got one from one of those places that have a dozen or so moonwalks/bouncy castles/inflatable structures under one roof. They asked, Would I like to read one of my books at a 30-minute story time?

In other words, would I like to captivate — for half an hour, and armed only with a book — a group of children brought to a place where they might well have assumed that the only item on the agenda was to literally bounce off the walls?

Now, that sounds like a tough gig. But I’m starting to envision it as part of a children’s-author equivalent of the World’s Strongest Man competition, only instead of the Fridge Carry and Caber Toss, events would include Inflatable Storytime and Bookstore Signing at 9 a.m. on July 21.