12 cities, 35+ events, 1 book tour
The Princess Academy: Palace of Stone tour is over! My first book tour in about three years. I took a good deal of time off, 'cause:
It was so great to get out and chat with readers, revisiting old haunts and discovering new ones. I'm terrible at taking photos. Here are a few I was able to scrounge from my camera and others. In no particular order, because that would require too much effort.
In Baltimore with Tiffany Trent (Hallowmere, The Unnaturalists). We were MFA bffs in Montana. She read the first (horrible) draft of The Goose Girl. We had a dream back then of one day being published authors and meeting up at conferences...
Also in Baltimore, Mr. Hale himself! Nathan Hale, that is, in spiffy hat, promoting his fab graphic novel historicals One Dead Spy and Big Bad Ironclad.
Baltimore Book Fest's author hospitality suite is in this awesome old house. I appreciated this statue.
Traveling from Baltimore to NYC. I texted my hubbie, "I'm riding with Ellen Datlow on the train." (superstar editor) He texted "Does she know you're there?" So I took this photo and sent it to him. (She did know. We shared licorice.)
Oh my! How did I get on this panel? Avi, Ann M. Martin, Richard Peck, Rebecca Stead, and myself at Books of Wonder in NYC. SO great to be back in NYC again! I love that town. I'm claiming Reb Stead as a new best friend. And I pretty much want a transcript of everything Richard Peck says.
SQUEE!
Newsflash: Francisco X. Stork is awesome. So lovely, smart, and kind. Just in case you needed any other reason to read his fab books.
A school visit in Memphis. That's a photo of my 10-year-old self on the screen behind me.
On stage at the Decatur book fest in Georgia with my young helpers. So hot. So worth it. Great fest.
Book event at Alamosa Books in Albequerque. Fab store!
Stop it! These girls in Phoenix stenciled their shirts. I'm certain "SH" stands for "smoked ham."
Fun assembly in Jackson, MS, organized by Lemuria Books, another fab store. These kids helped me do some storytelling, so we posed after for a photo op.
I show off my roll of rejection letters to St. George's School in Memphis. Great kids.
St. Georges gave me BBQ at a special lunch after. Serious. Take me back to Memphis.
Back at home, my daughter Dinah playing hide-and-go-seek.
Palace cake at the book launch at The King's English! I don't think I've ever partaken of food at my book events. But it's sure pretty! Great launch. My editor and I co-presented, and I just loved talking with her.
Clearly awesome gals in Phoenix showing off their "Mutual understanding is sexy" t-shirts. (from The Actor and the Housewife)
Congratulatory best seller flowers.
In Decatur, it wasn't hard to distinguish the children's writers from the elite crowd. At the authors' hot and humid reception, Rebecca Stead, David Levithan and I plopped our butts down on the ground in front of the one fan. It was an excellent plan. We were shortly joined by all the other present children's writers. There are definite benefits to having no dignity.
My daughter covered a doll's face in masking tape and drew her face on. Creepy. And an excellent story starter!
These were restaurant bathrooms in NYC. Yes, the doors are clear glass. When you go in, the door presumably clouds up so no one can see in. But I could still see out, so I had to wonder, as I frantically rushed through my business. There is such a thing as too fancy. I have a reoccuring dream that I have to go to the bathroom and the only public bathroom has no walls, so this experience was so surreal!
Thanks to all the great bookstores: King's English, Deseret Book, Changing Hands, Alamosa, Booksellers at Laurelwood, Lemuria, Little Shop of Stories, Andersen's, The Children's Bookstore, Books of Wonder, and Barnes & Noble! And thanks to School Library Journal for hosting the webcast, and Scholastic Book Orders for the wonderful day. Utahns, don't miss my event with Libba Bray this Saturday. I'll be in Southern California in February, and I hope to see more of you next book launch! Whenever that might be...