So it’s been awhile since I’ve written you, faithful blog readers. Perhaps you’ve despaired that I would never return to Cyberland. But fear not! I’m back.
So I’ve had a crazy month: readings, more readings, driving, more driving, flying, more flying and more readings. It’s been good to be home, though now I have a cold compounded by thousands of miles of travel and hundreds of different regional strains of germs.
My first leg took me to the midwest. I spent the night in New Jersey to get a jump on traffic and early morning Pennsylvania in October was breathaking (insert poetic descriptions of leaves and gorges and stuff here). I arrived in Michigan in time for my friends’ children’s soccer practice. The next day I went to purchase a straightening iron and get my broken headlight fixed. Then I took a nap. Meanwhile, my host (a obstetrician/surgeon) performed inter-uterine surgery on a 22 week old fetus, but I think those things are comparable, don’t you?
I spoke to the residential college at University of Michigan (my parents’ alma mater) along with my fantastic publisher, Dan Wickett, who promised, in front of 40 witnesses to foot the bill of the entire book tour (not really). My reading at Shaman Drum was very well attended, and I got to meet Mike Cy….ski who is Dzanc’s new author. Good on him!
I made it to Chicago in time for my hands-down best event, my book party, thrown by my publisher, OV Books and my mother. Mom pulled out all the stops: she called high school friends, college friends, playgroup friends she hadn’t seen in years to come and buy books. We sold 70. That’s a good number. And I ate a lot of cheese and drank so much that I only read for 90 seconds.
Then it was off to the Wisconsin Book Festival, where I had the pleasure of reading with Daphne Beal and Alistair McCartney. I spent the rest of the day with Daphne and her husband Sean, and then went to dinner with Tom Perotta and Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (how’s that for literary name dropping?). Spent the cocktail hour helping Tom fend off attacking sycophants. (Lady: “I wrote a book about the great lakes.” Tom: “That’s great. Which one’s the biggest.” Lady: “You know, I’m not sure.”). Then I spent the night at Mom’s friend’s Gail’s house, which may be the most beautiful and exquisitely designed house I have ever seen. And she has cute dogs.
Next post: Iowa City, the triumphant return!