Month: March 2005

A note about author wranglers:

Did you know there was such a job? The proper title is “media escort”. Karen, who is helping me in LA, calls herself an “author schlepper”. Their job is to pick up the befuddled, confused author at the airport and drive them all over the city, get them to events on time, keep them fed, hydrated and awake, and cope with the weirdnesses that crop up in this line of work. I bet all author schleppers could write their own books. I’ve had fantastic schleppers on the West Coast – Tina Mandt, Sharon Chabon, Larry Lewis and Karen Hebert. I just wish they would come home with me and schlep me to the dry cleaners, the grocery store and Wawa. Maybe if I had a full-time schlepper, I’d get my library books returned before they are overdue.

To anyone taking the new SATs today – I’m sorry. I hope it wasn’t too bad. I once heard that the worst predictor of a kid’s chances at college success is the SAT. If you don’t do as well as you’d like, remember that.

Enjoyed Friday night gridlock driving through Los Angeles last night, but Karen is such a pro, she got me to Vroman’s on time. Lots of teachers turned out and a few kids, and Karen Madden, author of the new book Gentle’s Holler. (Hello Lucy and Nora!)

I can’t tell what’s smog and what’s fog here. All I know is that it’s hard to see anything. This is what it looks like to the left out my window.

This is what it looks like out the right. The ocean is out there someplace.

Back to the airport in a little while, then I catch a plane for Detroit. Back to cold. Back to snow. Back to gloom.

Thank goodness. All this sunshine messes with my head.

Real quick – here was my morning at Santa Monica High School.

Everybody stuffed into the library.

This is Tony and Madison. That is Madison’s hat on Tony’s head. The hat came from Prague. I bet the hat has stories to tell.

Meet Walter. He helped me move stuff around. I got him out of History so he could listen to me talk. It was a fair trade.

Thank you librarians Anne and Dana and bookseller Sharon. And note to the English teachers – first, thanks so much for taking the time to share my books with your students. I appreciate that a lot. Second, I’m totally bummed I can’t take you up on your kind invitation. Can I get a rain check?

Well, I didn’t wake up in a broom closet! This is still a little weird, though. Good, but weird.

Yesterday, San Diego Day, was very long, but it was packed with fun experiences and the chance to meet really nice people. I took an early flight from Oakland to San Diego, which is just a little bit north of the Mexican border. I was met at the airport by Larry, my author minder/wrangler/escort. We had some time to kill before my first appearance, so he took me to this MASSIVE park in the middle of the city that was filled with beautiful plants and trees and museums, and we got to walk around and I felt like a very lucky girl. From there, Larry drove me up (down?) the coast so I could see the surf. Did you know there is a big storm near Alaska? Well there is, and it’s sending huge waves to California which looked very imposing. We ate lunch ON THE BEACH (calamari sandwich thank you very much). I called my Beloved Husband to tell him I was lunching outside in 76 degrees. He said it was 25 degrees and his part of NY was getting another six inches of snow. I felt kind of bad about that.

Big waves you can’t quite see in the background. Hot surfer in the foreground for Meredith.

After lunch we drove inland to Rancho Santa Fe Middle School where I talked to the 8th grade. Thank you very much for the poetry and the great shirt, Rancho people!

Two bookstore visits yesterday – Warwicks in LaJolla (stock signing) and an event at Barnes & Noble in Encinitas.

Lots of people showed up in Encinitas. Wow.

I leave in a few minutes for Santa Monica High School.

If you live around LA, the best place to find me today is 7-9pm tonight when I’ll be at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.

(Before you get jealous about this whole Cali weather and cool hotel moment, remember I leave for Detroit tomorrow.)

I have three things to say… will give all other details after I sleep.

1. The Bad Thing – I woke up at 4:45 am and now it is midnight and I am not asleep yet.

2. The Great Thing – I had an AMAZING day in the San Diego area – thank you to everybody who made it such fun! I am too tired to post details and photos right now, but will try after breakfast.

3. The Stupendous Thing – I arrived at my hotel in LA a little while ago and the guy at the desk said they were setting up my roll-away bed. “Roll-away?” I asked, voice trembling, imagining that I have to sleep in a broom closet or the locker room of the fitness center. “Yes,” he said. “We are 100% booked for tonight and tomorrow night so we have to put you in the Presidential Suite. It does not have a bed, so we’re giving you a roll-away. The room normally goes for $1000 a night, but we’re charging you the normal room rate for the inconvenience.”

Me: *sputter*

So yes, dear reader, I am sleeping on a roll-away bed in a suite that is as big as my apartment. It has two couches, a dining room table that easily seats six, and one of those fancy-schmanzy shower heads that makes you feel like you are washing your hair in a giant waterfall.

I am not sure if this is really happening. I could be dreaming all of this. I am certainly getting punchy. I’ll let you know if I wake up in a broom closet.

OK, I hate the Internet connection at this hotel. I’ve tried to post this entry three times and it keeps failing and I lost all the work. Lucky for the front desk I’m too tired to whine and stomp my feet.

Pics du jour:

I’m staying in Jack London Square, where author Jack London used to hang out. (Yes, an author appropriate hotel. Not seedy, but you double-check the locks.) Here are the pics from this morning’s walk.

Cabin with a sod roof in the middle of a large city.

This is a tree, a mulberry tree, I’m told. They get trimmed back like this every year. There is a whole block of them near my hotel. They look like a forest of dinosaur bones.

First stop of the day was Rakestraw Books in Danville, where students from three different schools SQUEEZED into the store and we made much merriment. (Hi Wendy – of course I remember you!)

Next was M is for Mystery/Third Avenue Bookshop for Children in San Mateo. These wonderful girls are from San Mateo High School. There are 90 kids missing from this photo (from a different school) because budget cuts last week forced the school district to eliminate all busing for field trips. *sad face* From there I signed stock at another store, and then went home to talk to kids and Beloved Husband on the phone.

Interesting things about Oakland, CA –
1. The newspaper has a daily map of regional earthquake activity. It’s on the weather page, just below the UV index.
2. When you order a bagel and lox, you get a raisin bagel.
3. I should move here because fog makes my hair look great.
4. Houses are expensive. If I moved here, I could only afford to rent a small cardboard box.
5. A really icky thing happened in front of my hotel today that I will probably put in my next book. Maybe if I lived here (in a cardboard box) I could write faster.

Tomorrow’s schedule:

Early morning flight to San Diego

1:00 – 3:00 PM Rancho Santa Fe middle school (not open to public)
Sponsoring Store: Yellow Book Road

4:00 – 4:30 PM Stock signing, Warwick’s, 7812 Girard Avenue, La Jolla CA

7:00 – 9:00 PM Barnes & Noble, 1040 N. El Camino Real Drive, Encinitas, CA

Friday I’ll be in Santa Monica & Pasadena.

See ‘ya, bye.