Catching Up, the Terrible Posture Version

On Thursday I'm off to Chicago, again--this time to the Love Is Murder Conference. Mystery conferences are usually pretty laid back and a lot of fun for everyone who attends. Plus, it's always fun to freak out the business folk who wonder why the hotel bar is packed with drunk people talking about books.

Of course, I was just up in Chicago two weeks ago at The Book Cellar. Finally, here are the photos--my sweet sister sent them to me last week. Suzy Takacs, the owner of the store was a delightful host, and I had a great time reading with James Kennedy, author of The Order of Odd-Fish, and Bryan Alaspa.








And my sister, Teresa, came all the way from California to hang out with Pom and me at the bookstore!



Working kind of backward, then forward again....

I met with a terrific group of readers who braved the cold to come to Jim Huang's Mystery Company bookstore in Carmel, Indiana. Jim is one of the hosts of the 2009 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention to be held in Indianapolis in October. I was delighted to have a photo with the other Sisters In Crime members who attended the reading, too. (And, yes, Jim is a Sister!)






On Saturday the 24th I trotted over to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is only about an hour from my home, and signed at the Barnes and Noble store there. Daniel Seiler was my delightful CRM host, but, alas, I forgot to take any pictures.

I'm so glad that all the bookstores I've been visiting have been so warm and friendly, because this has been the landscape of the last few weeks of the tour--very cold and snowy:



And does anyone else you know tote this much stuff around? Two trips it took me from the car to the hotel room at each stop. Suitcase for clothes, hair dryer/toiletry bag, computer bag, food bag and purse. Sometimes I think I'm part turtle and must carry my home with me. I expect it's a security thing--I find it difficult to leave my family and things behind. I won't even reveal, though, all the unnecessary things I bring along. Feel free to imagine, though!

It's an AG Kind of Day!

A brief break in the tour re-cap....

Today I'm at my friend Answer Girl's place. Her subject this year is "Things I Don't Know." My piece is called, "I Don't Know Why I Hate Rats More Than I Hate Mice." I hope you'll drop by to hear about my disturbing rodent issues.

There's another AG on my mind today:

When I was a little girl, I had a cousin who collected Madame Alexander dolls. Do you know them? They're terribly fancy as collectibles go. She had shelves and shelves of them representing countries all over the world, storybook characters, film stars, historical figures. They were gorgeous and I was never allowed to touch them because they were so special.

I always wanted a Madame Alexander doll, but I knew they were too expensive and that my younger sisters would probably just give them haircuts like they gave to my Barbies, anyway. So I never asked. I pretended that I was too sophisticated for them, that they were too childish.

(from The Pink Princess website)


When Pom was little, she adored dolls of all sorts. But she was very hands-on and never would've stood for looking at them on the shelf. When I discovered the American Girls catalog and dolls, I knew they were for us--I mean, her.

The company is owned by Mattel now, I think, and it's a major operation. But it began small, with high-quality dolls (the quality has not slipped). First were Samantha, Felicity and Molly dolls representing the early twentieth century, the American Revolution, and the 1940's, respectively. Josefina came soon after. They've added many dolls since the early nineties and have even recently retired Samantha.

First, I bought Pom Bitty Baby, the American Girl doll baby. Bitty Baby came with a high chair, outfits for herself and her tiny bear--plus I bought the bassinet, changing table and every theme outfit from the birthday party with its wind-up musical cake to the snowbunny playsuit. Ah, childish bliss. When she turned six, she graduated to Samantha, and I gave her a red damask hat box to keep all of Samantha's lovely outfits in. Did I mention each doll has a book series, too? I even met a young woman who wrote AG books a couple of years ago. In all, I think Pom had four AG dolls. We gave a couple away, but she still has Bitty Baby and Felicity packed away. I miss those days of indulging both of us in doll paraphernalia.

American Girl has several stores called American Girl Place. It's girly paradise, and I wish I'd been able to take Pom when she was younger. When we went to Chicago last week, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the store there--we had a terrific time, and made some new memories.



We only had my camera phone, so it was impossible to capture the cavernous quality of the place.




I loved the decor of the restaurant. Very Dorothy Draper.



If you didn't bring a doll with you, you could select one to be seated with you at lunch!



Pom wouldn't pick a doll, but I did! Kit is the Depression Era doll--I thought she looked most like me.



Doll Hospital.





And you can have your doll's hair styled!




And buy sweet treats!



Even the bathrooms are fancy and girly. We wondered what the boys' bathroom looked like...



There were lots of other things to see and buy. A whole room full of clothes to buy to match the dolls'. A separate salon for Bitty Baby and the Bitty Twins. Just good fun all around!

Road Work and Random Thoughts

I know lots of writers--very prolific writers--who get a considerable amount of work done on the road. I only travel about four or five weeks out of the year, so maybe I'm just not in the habit--but I can't write on the road to save my life. It takes all my concentration just to get from one event to another, to double-check directions and appearance times (several websites had my Dayton appearance for tonight instead of last night), do local media, call home, catch up on email, find food, and, most of all keep all my stuff organized. After an event, I'm always starving and jazzed-up, good for nothing except crashing in my hotel room, wearing my comfy Uggs, and, maybe, if I'm a good girl, writing my thank-you notes.

There is one important thing that traveling does for me (and always has): it clears my head so new information can get in. When I drive long distances, ideas flood my thoughts. In fact, this week I learned what the book I'll write after the one I'm currently working on will be about. I had known for a while what the main direction would be, but now I know the setting. And the setting is of primary importance to me. Anyone who has heard me talk about my work knows that I write most confidently when I write from place.

Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts takes place in Cincinnati, the city where I was born. It's always so fun to read there. My parents were at my house watching my kids (P is on the road as well), so they didn't get to attend, but plenty of other folks were there, despite the near-zero weather. I love hanging out at Joseph-Beth Cincinnati--they bring in many, many writers (my friend, Steve Berry, Jan Burke, and Dana Canedy were all there before me this week), and spoil them in the loveliest ways. Here I am with the delightful Barbara Hudson. And how cool is the poster they did?! (And, yes, I'm wearing my favorite long sweater, which I also wore in St. Louis. I'm very attached to it. Though I brought plenty of other clothes. Way too many, in fact.)








I got distracted and totally forgot to take pictures at Books & Co in Dayton yesterday. Christina Tomazinis handled the event, and we had a chance to have a good long talk about CMLH. And today I was at Mitchell Books in Ft. Wayne, IN. Katie, the store's book buyer, and Sandra, one of the managers, and I welcomed some aspiring writers in the reading area by their cozy fireplace. We had a great talk, and I was thrilled to get their feedback on my work.

Tomorrow I'll be at Jim Huang's Mystery Company Store here in Carmel, IN. I'll go home for a couple of days, and then up to Chicago for an event at The Book Cellar on Wednesday night.

Okay. Two random thoughts that occurred to me as I was driving over the last couple of days: 1) Seriously. No one should ever be allowed to cover Steely Dan songs. It's just wrong. The same goes for Led Zeppelin, U2, and, perhaps, The Who. I realize that this identifies me as an old fuddy-duddy, but that's just the way it is. (Technically, I.G.Y., the song Howard Jones covered back in the nineties was from a Donald Fagen Solo Album. Still.) 2) If you're in a relationship, marriage, etc., have you ever wondered if you and your partner would be matched as compatible by one of those relationship websites like eharmony.com? I wonder about that. One sees these commercials with happily matched couples....but does nature work in the same way as a computer program, or vice versa? Just thinking.

Where I Am When I'm Away

Last night's reading at the Brentwood Borders in St. Louis was so much fun. It was lovely to be with old friends, new friends, and family. Mandy Besemer made me feel right at home at the store, too, and even provided me with some much-needed chocolate before the event! I need to be getting on the road to Cincinnati, but I confess I enjoyed sleeping well past get-up-for-school time and can hardly tear myself away from the 1980s Tales From the Darkside marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel.

One very nice thing about the Internet is that I can be many places at once, but I've been remiss about linking to the blogs I've been visiting while I'm on the road. Last Friday (an eon ago in web-time!) I was J.T. Ellison's guest at Murderati, blogging about religion and horror. (I find the crew at Murderati very sharp and very intimidating--I was nervous!) Saturday, Jenni Holbrook interviewed me at Murder, Mayhem, and More. And today, I'm thrilled to be hanging out with the terribly talented Jungle Red ladies at Writing Well Is the Best Revenge. I'll be checking in there when I get off the road today.

Oh, and here's a link (finally!) to my Flat Belly Diet review, with photos and everything. The Grand Rapids Press doesn't keep up their stories for long, so I hope you'll check it out. I'll post the review here in a couple of weeks when it reverts back to me. My journal for the diet is here.

Okay, I'm off to Cincinnati where I'll read Thursday night at Joseph-Beth Books!

(Here's a photo of me with my dear friend Leigh Mansfield. We took our very first writing class together at the University of Missouri-St. Louis way back--well, never mind when!)

Laura and J.T.: The Blonde and Blonder Tour

I pulled out of my driveway last Wednesday with very mixed feelings--I was experiencing a huge sense of relief, but also a bit of trepidation. My January 3rd signing at the Carbondale Barnes and Noble went very, very well. It was covered by the Southern Illinoisan by Becky Malkovich. She did a fun piece on it for their Flipside section this past Friday. (Thanks, Becky!) But it had been a while since I'd read to a bookstore crowd.



The next part of the tour for Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts took place in and around Nashville, Tennessee. My gorgeous, talented, writer-chick friend J.T. Ellison and I started our Blonde and Blonder Tour (we're not telling which one was which--actually, we switched roles frequently!) at Sherlock's Books in Lebanon, TN. It's a huge, amazing independent bookstore, theater, cafe and--if you can believe it--a haven for all things remote control, including a race track! Here I am with Patty Guynn, who owns the store with her husband, Steve.

J.T. and I spent much of Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning doing drive-by stock signings in and around Nashville. We hardly stopped to breathe! We happened to stop in at the Borders where Janet Evanovich was to sign later that evening--the bookstore was filled with people there to get line tickets, and we made two new friends, Brenda and Lyndsi, who added our books to their Evanovich piles!

Thursday evening, we read at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville (Green Hills Store). Tim Lowe and the crew made us feel right at home, and the crowd was filled with lots of J.T.'s fans and friends. It's always fun to read with another writer--especially when you're on that writer's home turf. The energy was terrific, we sold tons of books, and everyone was terribly gracious.





And we were stunned to find cops working a (non-violent) crime scene when we came out of the restaurant we went to right after the signing. One of J.T.'s friends, Del, very generously lent us her scarf for the photo-op!



Our last tour stop was at Houston's famous independent store, Murder By The Book. I've always wanted to read there and it was a fun experience. (I also left behind a huge pile of signed copies of Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts and Isabella Moon--they do a big mail-order business.)

The handsome, fluffy guy is the store's pup Jack Reacher!







On Tuesday, I'll be at the Brentwood Borders store in St. Louis. Hope to see you there!

Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts is Here!

Some novelists envision their novels in fragments, writing a climactic scene or even the ending first. But I started at the beginning with Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts, describing the strange little ritual three teenage girls had come up with to conjure up a boyfriend (never would they have used the word "lover") for themselves. The scene with a grown-up Alice trying to convince her faithless husband that she has a lover of her own came soon after. The story flowed from there.

It's not an easy story. I'm told it's frightening as hell and know that it may challenge the way readers think about the propensities and intentions of teenage girls. I am not shy about introducing evil as an entity, and propelling the notion of sin into secular society.

But most of all I hope that Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts is an entertaining story--something that will fill a few of your hours with both horror and delight.

I am not a natural salesperson. Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts is (finally!) now available at bookstores pretty much everywhere. I hope that you'll pick it up when you're out returning that unusual item you got in the family gift-exchange, or order it the next time you're browsing online. (Isabella Moon is also available today in paperback. I know Mary-Frances has been waiting patiently!) Publishers apparently pay much attention to the number of books that are sold during the two weeks following a title's release. I just thought I'd mention it...

And if you read either of my novels, I hope you'll take a few moments to write me, then post a review at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Folks do want to know other folks' opinions when they're thinking about buying a book. I know I do!

My first signing on the tour is at the Carbondale, IL Barnes & Noble this Saturday afternoon. (I'm a little nervous. It's been a while!) The list of my other appearances is on this blog and at booktour.com. I'll also be doing lots of guest blogs this month, and plenty of interviews, too.

This is an exciting month for me--I can't wait to fill you in on all the details as things happen.

Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me! Blessings--Laura

How Did I Miss This, and What Must Charlie Rose Think?

So, what's up with the spider?

I was looking for images from Bowling Green, Kentucky as I spent some time there this weekend for the Southern Kentucky Bookfest. Horses in pictures of Kentucky are so overdone--and Bowling Green is stunning and rural, but not particularly horsey. While searching the Internet for something appropriate, I came upon Steven S.Kirtley's photos. Gorgeous stuff! His insect photos seemed particularly appropriate given the full onset of spring and the imminent arrival of the orb spiders that haunt my front porch all summer.

I made lots of new friends at the Bookfest and encouraged everyone who purchased ISABELLA MOON (thank you!) to email me and let me know what they think of it. And I was delighted that Bookfest took a big chance and let in several more of us unsavory mystery and thriller-writer types. I finally got the chance to meet Harlan Coben, as well as the ubiquitous Con Lehane. Fellow newbie, the talented Will Lavender was promoting his debut novel, OBEDIENCE. And the always fun JT Ellison and were in the row just behind me and my table-mate, Kentucky native Janna McMahan. I also became acquainted with yummy Lorna Landvik, who came all the way from Minnesota, and better acquainted with Leatha Kendrick, whom I first met at the Appalachian Writers Workshop almost twenty years ago! (That's also where I met my husband, Pinckney, so it's quite dear to my heart. We'll both be teaching at the annual workshop held at The Hindman Settlement School in the summer of '09.)

Now, here's a shiny object that caught my attention this morning. (It was posted on YouTube in March. Practically ancient history!) I can't believe I'm posting it, but if, like me, you are a cowardly Philistine for whom the phrase, "Let's go see a Samuel Beckett play," makes you want to twist a fork in your eye, this will give you a fit! (By way of the folks at The Very Short List.)

Guest Blogging at Answer Girl's Place!

The delightful Answer Girl invited me over to her place today to talk about writing and one of my favorite books, Margaret Atwood's, The Robber Bride. I can't even imagine how many times I've read it through--often picking random chapters, a few pages at a time. She'll have other folks there throughout the week.

This weekend, Pinckney, Tom Franklin, Beth Ann Fennelly, and I read at Burke's Books in Memphis. We had a lovely crowd, and signed many copies of Surreal South, plus our individual books.



Tonight is my last scheduled Isabella Moon tour event. I'll be reading/signing for Sigma Tau Delta in SIU-Carbondale's Student Center. It's been exactly seven weeks since I left for my first tour gig in Alaska.

Before I began the tour, I fretted. Would folks show up at the readings? Would we sell any books? Would my little family survive without me? The answers were all Yes, Yes, and Yes! (Well, Pomegranate did have that whole bitten-by-a copperhead experience, but she survived.) I met so many lovely people and learned so much--a thousand thank-yous to everyone who made Isabella Moon's debut a success. I wouldn't have missed the last seven weeks for the world!

Tour Pics and a Secret Almost-Contest

Saturday's signing at Barnes & Noble was terrific! I was even treated to an eight stanza recitation of a poem one man had written for his three year-old daughter. Since he purchased a book, it was kind of like a little literary salon, right there in Barnes & Noble. Like a moron, I forgot to take pictures--I'm batting about 50% there. But I did remember my camera at the Surreal South reading at SIU back on the 27th. It was a great time--rather irreverent for a lit event, but that's what Surreal South is all about! From L to R: Kyle Minor, Rodney Jones, your faithful correspondent, Pinckney, and Jon Tribble.


And a few more pics from the tour that never ends:

With Anne Holbach, owner of The Easy Chair Bookstore and Cafe in Blacksburg, VA



With Ellen Rothwell from The Open Book at the Greenbrier Valley Theatre event in Lewisburg, WV





This Saturday, Pinckney and I will be reading/signing Surreal South and Isabella Moon at Burkes Books in Memphis from 2-4 p.m. Joining us will be the incomparable Tom Franklin (Smonk, Poachers) and the much-(deservedly)lauded poet Beth Ann Fennelly. Should be a fun afternoon!

(The secret contest part: The first person with whom I've never had dinner to comment on this blog gets a signed copy of Isabella Moon.)

Things I Learned from my First Book Tour

Some things I learned from my ISABELLA MOON book tour:

1) Booksellers are saints. One should feed them cookies--regularly!
2) Always know where the restroom is in the bookstore where one is signing.
3) Get used to people falling asleep during one's reading, because someone will!
3a) Try not to embarrass the person who falls asleep when she wakes up and asks a question you already answered while she was asleep.
3b) Refrain from throttling said woman when she comes up to the signing table and says she MIGHT check out your book from the library!
4) Doubt your GPS. It will try to trick you into going to the address a bookstore had a year ago and has since abandoned.
5) Never stay at the Clarion Hotel, Bluegrass Industrial Park in Louisville unless you're looking for material for that new serial-killer-in-Soviet-Russia book you've been planning.
6) Allow your dad invite/pay/blackmail everyone he knows to come to your hometown signing and buy books.
7) Travel with a pillow, Clorox wipes and shower shoes, unless you're Tom Clancy, Lee Child, Diana Galbadon, or Patricia Cornwell.
8) Say "thank you" to everyone you meet--more than once!
9) Keep your cellphone charged--You will be homesick. A lot.
10) Smile! It's a book tour--Not a cancer diagnosis!