SUMMER BUMMER

This is the first summer of my life that we won’t be able to spend some vacation time in my hometown visiting friends and family. Mark and I and the boys have always driven up there shortly after school ended to spend at least a week staying with my father in my childhood home. We love to sit on the porch and watch the world go by; relax at backyard picnics and barbecues; swim in my sister’s pool; see a Jamestown Jammers baseball game and see how many hot dogs we can eat before or afterward at the famous Johnny’s Lunch; and of course, pay our annual visits to Niagara Falls, Chautauqua Institution, and Lily Dale. Ah, bliss.

But this year, between two major July conferences and my Midwestern book tour, my work travel schedule makes that annual visit impossible. Homesickness for good old western New York didn’t really hit me until now, and I’m feeling sad. I really hope to work in a long weekend hometown visit this fall and over the holidays. And when it comes time to plan next summer's travels...I'm going to reserve a good chunk of "down time" in Dunkirk!

Meanwhile, having finished writing LIVE TO TELL last week, I’ve finally found a few days to play catch-up with email, marketing, and publicity—though my summer travel plans are still in flux. I know I promised to get a Midwest tour schedule up, but I just haven’t had time to nail down events. My publicist, Jeanne, is working on that right now. With nine states to cover in about 20 days, I may wind up doing more stock signings than sit-down signings, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to meet my readers! If I’m passing through your town for a stock-signing, I’ll try to arrange it at a specific time so that I can meet you in the store, say hello, and sign your book.

Right now it looks like I’ll be visiting Houston and/or Dallas; Oklahoma City and/or Tulsa; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Independence, KS; Kansas City, MO; Lincoln, NE; Sioux City, IA; Rapid City, SD; and Denver.

Next week, I’m at Thrillerfest here in New York, and I’ll spend the following week at RWA’s National convention in Washington, DC. I’m assuming the weather will be soupy in both places, and it would be SO nice to see the sun—we’ve had nothing but rain here in NYC from late May until today (major thunderstorms in the forecast later, promising to rain out my son’s ballgame).

Is your summer as soggy as ours has been? And what are your travel plans? Fill us in!