Four o’clock in the morning is early. Very, very early. It’s so early when the wake-up call comes, you jump out of bed shouting, “Who’s sick?” And then, when the wake-up call you scheduled for 4:05am rings, you wander the room in daze for five minutes, looking for clues in your room about what your name is, where you are, and why you are there.
Then you remember the airport shuttle leaves in fifteen minutes.
I made the shuttle, made the plane, and made it to Miami. Miami. Yes. As in Florida. As in palm trees and sunshine and…… highways. Lots and lots of highways, punctuated by construction and detours onto other highways. Traveling to new cities is one of the fun parts of book tours, but the reality is, you don’t get to see much except for the inside of the airport and the traffic.
That’s why they hire nice author escorts, because let me tell you, if I had to do the driving, this tour would have ended in disaster four days ago. Today’s friendly escort is Kathleen who is born and raised here and knows her way around. She was the one who got me to Killian High School on time.
Killian High School, Home of the Cougars, and Home to some very, very nice students who listened to me rant for an hour.
There were about 125 of them, and everyone wants to be on LJ, so I have to be fair and show them all.
They were an extremely fun audience, though few dared to sit in the front row.
The front row here is filled, but that is because they were sitting far right of me, out of the spit-zone. Sometimes I foam at the mouth when I get excited.
We have to call the ladies to either side of me “media specialists” (sorry – I do not like that title – though I like the people who have the job). On the right is Aline from Barnes & Noble. Notice the sign says “Library”. To me it will always be a library, not a media center.
After Killian, I had a break to catch my breathe, catch up on phone calls, write email, revise the manuscript I am lugging around, and maybe even nap. Did I do any of it?
Not really. I sat in the pretty lobby and drank Diet Coke and marveled at the sight of palm trees outside.
Those palm trees.
I’m leaving in a minute for the event at Books & Books in Coral Gables. For those of you trapped in the ugly part of spring; the melting, muddy snowbanks, the torrential rains, the dreary wind blowing over the plains, let me leave you with a little love from Miami.
Poolside love.