The Calm Between Storms

I'm back at home after a weekend booksigning adventure. The Tyler signing was fun, with a lot of existing fans plus getting to talk to some people who just happened to be in the store and who ended up buying the first book. I felt kind of like a pusher because it seems like anyone who reads the first one will end up coming back for more. All part of my evil scheme.

I forgot to mention about the Dallas signing that for the very first time I had the bookstore person there to open the books and hand them to me already open to the page to sign on. I felt like such a star because that's treatment I've seen in the past for bestsellers. Now I just need to graduate to the point where they give out tickets for your spot in line and make you write your name on a Post-it note so I'll know who to sign to (which would really make life easier for me so I don't find myself saying to someone, "I know I know you, but I'm drawing a complete blank on your name."). The Fresh Fiction gang showed up for my Dallas signing and took photos, which you can see here.

And now I have two days of relative peace and quiet before I go do it all again. I know I have a backlog of e-mails to answer because my Internet access is sketchy away from home. If I "borrow" Wi-Fi from my parents' neighbors, it won't let me send e-mail except through the webmail interface, which I hate because then that messes up the way I sort and manage e-mail in my e-mail software. But if I use dial-up it holds up my parents' phone line and is slow. As a result, I have even more e-mail in the in-box than usual.

Because of the distribution issues in getting the new book, I've decided to extend the Great Blog Campaign another week. That way, all of you who had trouble getting the book still have time to write about it, and we can keep getting info out there, but now maybe people who read about it will be able to find the book. Remember to send me a link if you write about it so I can get you in the file for winning an early copy of book 4. I'm still taking requests for interviews or guest blogs, but as I am currently insane I can't guarantee the timeliness of my response.

There are a couple more GCC entries about me that I haven't posted. Laurie Stolarz has a little quiz with me. And Ellen Meister has my fantasy casting ideas with some absolutely perfect photos (I may have to steal them for my mental files).

If you've done something for the Great Blog Campaign and I haven't linked it here (unless it's unlinkable and you've sent me e-mail about it), you need to let me know because I will probably be choosing winners by going back to my blog entries and looking at links.

This week's booksignings are in Round Rock (just north of Austin) on Wednesday night and Fort Worth on Saturday.

I realized while heading out on my road trip just what a retro kind of dork I really am. I had the radio on and a song came on that made me turn up the radio and start jamming along. The song? "In the Mood" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. My favorite radio station is the big band/standards station (or as I sometimes refer to it, "Music for People Who Remember WWII"), which means I'm rather out of touch with anything current. That station is having an event this weekend I kind of want to go to, even though I know I'll definitely be the odd one out. It's an Armed Forces Day dance at the flight museum, among the vintage aircraft, with a big band and dancing. It's possible I'd be the youngest person there and the only one without a date, but I guess it still could be fun. I'll have to decide in time to make a reservation. Though there's also a chance that after a booksigning and with everything else that's going on I'll want to spend that evening on the sofa, hiding from the world for a while.

Now I need to go have a chat with the auto repair place about why my car handled worse after they balanced my tires. It's rather difficult to drive across Texas when you can't go over 60 mph without the steering wheel practically vibrating out of your hands.