BOOK TOUR INFORMATION!!!

The Impossible Knife of Memory cover image

Publication Day will be Tuesday, January 7, 2014. (That means you can buy the book with the gift card or gift certificate you receive over the holidays!)

NOTE!!! The tour stops, bookstores and conferences listed below are all confirmed. In some cities I will be making appearances at a school in addition to a bookstore, but I don’t know where or when yet. As soon as I have more details, I will post them.

Additional conferences and stores may be added. I can guarantee, for example, that I’ll be speaking at River’s End Bookshop in Oswego, NY at some point. Check back here for schedule updates.

Official January Tour

7 – Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge WA

8 – University Bookstore, Seattle, WA

9 – Rakestraw Books, Danville, CA

10 – Alamosa Books, Albuquerque, NM

11 – Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, CO

12 – Red Balloon, St. Paul, MN

13 – Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, MI

14 – McLean & Eakin, Petosky, MI

15 – Politics & Prose, Washington, DC

16 – Harleysville Books, Harleysville, PA

17 – Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur, GA

18 – Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA

19 – The Booksellers at Laurelwood, Memphis, TN

20 – Oblong Books, Rhinebeck, NY

21 – 92nd Street Y, New York City

Not Exactly Part of Tour

January 28 – February 14 – Muscat, Oman and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates  (Technically not part of book tour, but previously scheduled school visits)

Conferences and Festivals

March 11 – 14 – Public  Library Association, Indianapolis, IN

March 15 – 16 – Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, AZ

April 8 – 11 – Texas Library Association, San Antonio, TX

April 26 – Houston Teen Book Festival, Houston, TX

April 27 – May 4 – Kindling Words West Writing Retreat (no public appearance)

May 17 – Rochester Teen Book Festival, Rochester, NY

June 6 – 8 – Moravian Writing Conference, Bethlehem, PA

Look!  A Google map so you can find me! 

ANOTHER NOTE!!! You can always order personalized, signed books from my local independent bookseller. They are very happy to take orders over the phone or via email and they’ll ship books anywhere.

Where will I get to see you?

And about that suitcase…

Given that many of you will soon be packing for end-of-year travels, I thought I’d let you know how my experiment with travelling lightly went.

(You remember – I only took a carry-on for my five week book tour. Details here.)

In a word – fantastic!!

It helped that all of my travels were complete before the snow started to fly. And that the clothes I brought rolled up tiny. I would like to nominate the person who invented Dri-Fit fabric for a Nobel prize in something. In everything.

I did have laundry done in a couple hotels, which was expensive, but not as expensive as checking a suitcase on every flight would have been.

But I will never again hesitate to bring only the bare minimum. It was very freeing, physically and mentally, to travel so lightly.

A couple of you wondered where I got the suitcase and the purse that turned out to be so incredibly durable and easy to clean. Plus they looked cool. I bought them at Sherpani. In addition to being the best bags I’ve ever owned, they are largely made from recycled materials.

Travel lightly, my friends!

 

 

RIF, FORGE & me in DC

Here is a great video of me on book tour courtesy of RIF (Reading is Fundamental). This was shot at one of the KIPP Academies I visited in Washington, DC (You saw one their cool murals in Tuesday’s blog post).

 

Another highlight of the day for me was the chance to get to know Carol Rasco, RIF’s director, and learn more about the incredibly wonderful job they do getting books into the hands of young American readers. Thanks, Carol!!

(Be sure to check out Carol’s wonderful blog about literacy and learning.)

 

 

Pigs DO Fly!

A lot of people have written to me in the last few months, asking what a typical book tour day is like.

Elizabeth Bluemle of Flying Pig Bookstore did a write-up of the day I spent in the Burlington, VT area. It gives you a pretty good picture of the day: three school visits, a late-afternoon public presentation, then a long car ride to Boston because my plane was canceled. It was a long and intense day, but I loved it, especially hanging out with the students.

There are many readers’ faces that I am going to remember for a long time after this tour. Like Clark Weathers, who showed me the comic book he was drawing  in his spiral notebook. I met him before I talked to the kids in his Austin, TX middle school. After my presentation, I made sure that Clark and his librarian had a chance to chat. She introduced him to a new term “graphic novel” and told him that the library had a lot of them. You should have see the excitement on his face!

Clark made this for me. Be sure you read the second sentence.

In other news, the sun was spotted in the Forest this afternoon for the first time since Saturday. In the extended forecast, they are calling for snow in the next 9 out of 10 days. I have a funny feeling I will soon be seized by an uncontrollable urge to bake gingerbread cookies.

And we’re getting our Christmas trees this weekend. I am taking bets on how long it takes the new dog, Thor, (AKA The Totally Insane Chimera Dog) to eat a few branches and then puke green.

PS – Looking for holiday shopping book suggestions?? Check out the Flying Pig’s newsletter!!

Best Intentions

Remember when I used to blog? A lot? Well. I got out of the blogging habit during the FORGE booktour! ARGH! I’m sorry! I miss you guys!

So I am trying to get back into the habit.

Right now.

I think one of the things that has been holding me back (other than catching up on my sleep) is that I felt as if I had to write a gigunda blog post in which I would mention absolutely EVERYTHING that happened in the tour. And the mere thought of composing such a long post made me need another nap all over again.

So.

I’m going to sneak the highlights of the tour in gradually, if its OK with you. Like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mural graces the hall of one of the KIPP Academy schools I visited in Washington, DC courtesy of the completely amazing people at RIF.

(BTW – you’ve been looking for a reason to bug your Congressfolk, right? Some confused people running the country don’t want to continue to fund RIF, thereby depriving 4.4 million children of books!! YOU CAN HELP RIGHT NOW!)

I’m also going to get back to the regular blogging flow of life in the country, my writing process, my dogs, and whatever else strikes my fancy. So…

1. It has been snowing here since Saturday. This is a Good Thing because

2. I’m working on a new book, but I can’t tell you about it yet because I am superstitious and

3. The dogs say “Hi! Hi! Got a ball! I have a ball! In my mouth. It is big and red and slimy!! I want to put this ball in your hand. NO! I want to rub this ball in your hair so you’ll smell just like me!! Wait! Where you going?”

4. Tonight my heart is with the children of Elizabeth Edwards. They have been through more than their share of sadness.

And here endeth this post. As far as returns go, it’s a little uneven, but as with all writing, it will improve with some daily practice.

See you tomorrow.