It was another early flight out of Miami, but it wasn’t hard to make the plane because I was still buzzing with adrenaline from the Books & Books event. I flew North, to Ohio.
My author schlepper here is Kathy Tirschek. (The proper title is “media escort.”) Her job is to take me from event to event, and make my life on book tour as smooth as possible. Kathy is a total pro. As we drove to Fort Thomas, KY to the first event, I didn’t even notice the car was moving.
The Blue Marble Bookstore, an independent children’s bookstore, was my first stop of the day. I met the owners, Tina and Peter Moore at the McConnell Literature Conference years ago, and it was delightful to finally make it to their store. Along with being wonderful people and experts on children’s literature, their bookstore has a Goodnight Moon room.
It is adorable!
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.
Bears, chairs, and more.
The mittens! The mittens!
Stars and moon, just for you, Meredith, adastraperasper. (I think we should take a road trip this summer so you can see this room.)
After catching up with Tina and Peter, and meeting David and Tish, I enjoyed a homemade lunch made in Tina’s kitchen with a group of teachers and librarians. It was so nice to sit down to a meal with people! After lunch, I presented to a surprisingly large group of folks. About half of them were college students who woke up early on a Saturday morning and drove 40 miles for the event, at the suggestion of Professor Brenda, who is very, very cool. (Hi, Brenda!)
There was also a teen book club from Winton Woods High School. (Hi Angelica, Stephanie, Michell, and Edd!) The fact that they woke up on a Saturday morning and came out to hear me blew me away.
I said good-bye to the moon and old lady whispering hush, and headed to Joseph-Beth Books in Cincinnati. Joseph-Beth is a small independent chain. The store is booklover heaven. It is a Mothership bookstore, like Books & Books in Miami; it has an enormous selection, room to read, a cafe, pretty things (Vera Bradley bags, Mer) and very intelligent booksellers who actually read the books they recommend.
It also has 60 (you read that right, SIXTY) book clubs that meet regularly. This picture is of one section of the wall of bookclub reads. A wall. 60 book clubs. I was impressed.
Despite the fact that it was the first sunny Saturday afternoon Cincinnati had seen in a long time, a group of teachers, real-live teenagers, and college students came to here me speak.
Including skylark913! Yeah, an LJ Friend!!!
A couple of the teens had already read TWISTED and asked me questions about it. IT WAS SO NICE TO TALK TO PEOPLE WHO HAD READ THE BOOK!!!! Remember, I finished writing the book a year or so ago. And I have been dying to talk about it and share it with folks, but I couldn’t until they had actually read the darn thing. It felt like sitting on a giant secret for a year – I almost exploded. So the Joseph-Beth event rocked my world.
After a quick stock signing at another store, I had the night off. This was a Good Thing. I was beat. I had a massage to get out the airplane kinks, a big dinner, and I watched basketball until I fell asleep. Not an exciting night, but a restful one.
Want to read a little more from TWISTED? black-kitten has posted her favorite quotes.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Morning – Sleep in. (check) Eat breakfast. (as soon as I post this) Shower. A long, hot shower. Catch up on email and other correspondence. Read. Read. Read. Pack up, check out, and hit the road.
2PM – Signing
Books & Co.
The Greene Town Center
4453 Walnut Street
Dayton, Ohio 45440
937-429-2169
Drive to next town.
6PM – Signing
(event location) Upper Arlington High School (open to public)
1650 Ridgeview Rd.
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
Sponsored by: Cover to Cover
3560 North High Street
Columbus, OH 43214-4041
614-263-1624
Because of the schedule, I will probably miss most of the Georgetown-UNC game. (Being an author requires all kinds of personal sacrifices.) If you come out to the event, and you see me in the corner petting a basketball with my eyes closed, muttering an incantation to myself (hoya saxa, hoya saxa, hoya saxa), you’ll know why.