Saturday morning’s airplane delivered me to my favorite city in America.
I love, love, love this place!
As you’ve probably noticed, there has been exactly no time for any kind of sightseeing on this trip, with the exception of lunch at William Faulkner’s house. (Yes, I am still dropping that phrase wherever I can.) I haven’t even had time to work out at a hotel gym or go for a quick run. Every time I opened my suitcase, my running clothes and sneakers mocked and taunted me.
But after I checked into my hotel on Saturday, I had a free hour. My author schlepper suggested I check out a nearby attraction.
Grace Cathedral – a sanctuary for all, regardless of faith community. It is a true sanctuary in the purest sense of the word. A holy place of peace – no dogma, no one beating you over the head with their brand of religious experience.
I really needed a quiet place and I found it. Serenity and bliss. I recentered myself, reconnected with the Universe, and emerged restored.
And hungry.
I was treated by Uncle Penguin to this magnificent lunch (they called it Crab Dungeness Salad. It was even better than it looks).
I lunched with a group of dynamic YA librarians from the San Francisco Public Library. It was a little dark in the restaurant, but really, if you squint, you can see us. I was particularly interested in learning about their outreach to teens who are incarcerated, and the city kids who are looking for books that reflect their urban experiences. We need to write more books for them.
You see interesting things in San Fran. These little rolling pod contraptions can be rented for the day and driven around the city. You have to wear a motorcycle helmet while you are driving or riding in them.
After lunch we headed for Keplers, in Menlo Park, for a near full-house event. (Hi, Adrianna! Hi Vivian!) At the end of the presentation I was solemnly informed of the tragic defeat of my Georgetown Hoyas. Since I was in California, I pledged my new allegiance to UCLA. And then UCLA lost. I can’t decide if I am going to support Ohio or Florida in the Championship game. (I’m leaning towards Florida, since Ohio beat my boys.) Despite the loss, it was a great afternoon. Thank you very much to everyone who took the time out of their gorgeous afternoon to spend time with me.
Dinner was quiche in the car as we drove back to the city for the last event: Not Your Mother’s Book Club, notyourmothers. A couple of friends were in the audience which made it even more special than it already was – Shari and Richie Partington. (Thanks so much for coming out! Say hi to the kids and the other kids from me!)
Here you see Debbi Michiko Florence, Jen, and me. And another random giraffe. It is so nice when I get to see old friends on the road. Debbi d-michiko-f and I met six or seven years ago at the Poconos SCBWI retreat. Since then I’ve moved twice and she’s moved about 100 times, but we’ve kept track of each other through email and LiveJournals. It was a blast to see her again and meet her daughter. (Hi C!) Jen is the Evil Genius and Awesome Babe who powers Not Your Mother’s Bookclub, putting great books into the hands of teen readers and making YA authors feel very, very special. Thanks to Jen and everyone at Books Inc. for ending my tour so perfectly. I owe you all a night on the town when I come through again.
And now it is time to fly back east to my Beloved Husband and my dog and my pillow. I am writing and uploading this in Chicago’s O’Hare airport, about to get on the plane bound for home. I think I’m going to take a couple of days off to catch up on sleep and life, if you don’t mind.
I’ll post later in the week with my reflections on the tour and the book launch; coherent, rational thoughts. Right now all I can say is THANK YOU!!! I am humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude to everyone who went out and bought TWISTED, who came to an event, who wrote with comments about the book, who worked so hard to make all of this magic happen.
I am a tired, happy, lucky author. A thousand thank-yous to all.
Laurie, I’m glad your tour was amazing! I can’t believe I met you a week ago!
(I think you should root for Ohio because you know, I live here and stuff…) 😉
I had a dream with you in it. Your hand was bothering you much that you had to be in a wheelchair. So, I hope for the sake of my dreamlife and your health that you and your hand gets lots of rest.
Enjoy your break and have a safe flight home. You’re in my favorite city now! Yea Chicago! 🙂
Thanks so much for posting your tour — it was great to see all the love for YA!!! 🙂
I LOOOOVE San Francisco. Good luck with the rest of your tour!!!!
i see betsy levine at lunch with you! i can’t make out the others, who are they?
i love san francisco too. GUESS WHY
xxoo, you rock star
WHEE! It so fabulous seeing you again! An absolutely great talk! C totally raved!
YAY for San Francisco, the city of my birth! 🙂
Hope to see you again soon! Congrats on all the raves for TWISTED! You ROCK!
Er.It WAS so fabulous! (Sorry, lame typo!) LOL
I looked forward to the book tour updates every day, but I’m sure your Beloved Husband and Creature with Fangs will be happy to have you back! Thanks for all the posts and the pictures, it was great to see a book tour from an author’s POV.
My favorite band in the universe, The Decemberists, has a song entitled “Grace Cathedral Hill”. If you’d like, you can download it here. I adore San Francisco *almost* as much as The Decemberists.
P.S. Thank you for coming to our little book haven in Southaven, MS. It was a joy and a delight having you.
Congradulations!
I’m so happy you had fun on your book tour! It was great to meet you here in little Lapeer, even if it was only 5 minutes of glory.
Some day I hope I can visit all these big cities. *_*
You are a very very wonderful woman Laurie. I’m very happy for you. Rest well.
G’Night bush’d.
NYT article
Hi Laurie,
I’m glad that you had such a great tour – though I’m still sad that you’re not coming to NYC.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ll need to catch up on your rest, but when you have a minute, I thought you might be interested in this NY Times article about the pressures on todays high school girls to be “everything” — http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/education/01girls.html. It reminded me of the kind of issues you address in your books.
Best,
Marianna
welcome home! =)
i’m glad that you had a great time on the tour! i loved seeing all the pictures and reading about your adventures. i’ll bet you’re glad to be home though. and i’m so excited to see you again! one month and nine more days to go lol. and i’ve been reading twisted nonstop. almost everyone i talk to asks about what i’m reading. i’ve been putting in a pretty good word for you at carlisle high school; i’m thinking of starting a fan club lol. have fun catching up on sleep. i’m planning to do that too since i’m on spring break now. yesss! happy easter/spring! and tell everyone hi for me. =) ♥
Re: next tour and basketball
Florida won! THAT was a fun game!