Author: Jonathon

OK, here?s the run down on the NYC event.
First of all, thank to everyone for coming out to see us. It was a great feeling to see the line wrap around the corner of the store and continue down the block. And they said we couldn?t draw a crowd in the New York. Well, about 150 to 200 of you proved that wrong.
All in all it was a wonderful event, with no complaints from anyone in line, or with the staff. I think that the FAQ Sheet that we did up for people to read while in line helped keep everyone in a good mood. We?re going to try to continue using the handout at any event where we don?t have the space to do the Q & A.
The most pleasing part of the event was when one of the Marines from Captain Littion?s unit came through the line. We were glad to put a face with some of the soldiers that we have been supporting while they are stationed overseas. I got a big grin when instead of ?Cheese!? I said ?Semper Fi!? when I took the picture. He said that he was glad I got it right, I almost asked if he expected me to say ?Airborne leads the way?? I?ve got too many relatives in the branches of the Armed Services to not know better. If I get it wrong, it is on purpose to bait one of my family.
But right now we?re in the air, on our way to San Fransciso, and the events there. I honestly don?t remember if we have one tonight or not.. I?d have to check the itinerary to be sure, and its not that important at the moment. I?ll check it once we?re on the ground.
Peace out y?all.

A new definition of early. You know it’s too damned early when the man who brings your breakfast tray asks, “Did you get any sleep at all?” For a second, I thought how did he know to ask, then I realized he was the waiter that brought us our soup and tea after the New York signing last night. We’d gotten so little sleep that we were still on his shift.
Jon’s asleep as I write this. We’re in the air and on our way to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Event tonight at Uncle Hugo’s. See you there.

Jon?s first trip to the city of brotherly love, my second. The event was the smallest to date, between a 107 and 130 people. Line numbers said 107, my arm, and our escort?s estimate said 120 to 130. Opinions differ as they say. The drive from Philly to Bryn Mawyr was both picturesque and valuable. I saw an old cemetery, just a glimpse through the trees. The tombs seemed to be clinging to the side of the cliffs over the river. I have no idea what it was about that one brief glimpse, but it sparked something. People are always asking how do you get your ideas, well here?s how I got this one. That one glimpse, I didn?t even make a note, because I notice cemeteries all the time, sort of an occupational hazard. We went onto the event, and I didn?t really think anything more about it.
The event was good. We actually saw some faces fro the Maryland and Virginia signings, but most of the faces were new ones. We got to meet John Passerella and his entire family; wife, sons, and daughter. Very cool. His son, Matthew, looked wonderful. Thanks again to everyone who bid on our goodie basket for the Matthew?s Miles.
The next day we took the train to New York. Well, first off let me just say if I hadn?t said it about the train ride from Washington D. C. to Philly, I may finally have found a mode of transportation that doesn?t terrify me. Yea! But on the train ride to New York I started making notes. I?ve had an Anita idea set in D. C. for years, where Anita gets to talk to the senate subcommittee on undead rights. I?ve just got to find time to do the research for it, and time on the ground in our capitol. Hard to find with my schedule. About the time I was ready to try, we had 9/11 and I figured that everyone had more important things to do than answer my questions. So I thought the Philly idea would tie into the Washington idea, but I realized somewhere in the train ride that there was too much plot in the new idea to combine it with the D. C. idea. That one glimpse of a cemetery through the trees, and our brief ride through the Philly area had given me an idea so complete, I?ve got the first chapter in rough form. I?ve made notes about the first third of the book. I think we?ll get to invite Edward to come play on this one. We might even get to see him use his flame thrower on stage. Cool, and scary.
I know the Philly idea is sometime after Anita 13 because at least one character that?s going to be introduceded on stage in Anita 13 will be in the Philly idea. I know the idea is good because it?s already attracted other characters to come play. An entire new book idea for Anita, and it?s all from one brief glimpse through trees from a speeding car, of an old cemetery clinging to the side of a bluff. I can?t explain to you why that one brief glimpse sparked so much in me, but it did. I think getting ideas is like a muscle, the more you work it, the more you can lift. The more you work at being open to ideas, the more ideas you get.
I also made some serious notes on the Washington D. C. book, as well. Some pretty scary stuff in that one, personally for Anita.
Sorry if this is like serious teasing, but I don?t share ideas until they?re really ready. But for all those who ask how do I get my ideas, I thought you?d find it interesting.

Well, once again I was close to the Games Workshop US Headquarters, and once again I was unable to visit. So close, yet so far away.
I don?t mind though. I got to see a great many people I saw last time, again. Including Amy, who is now out of her wheelchair, which made the trip completely worth while.
We had about 171 people go through the line and get stuff signed. This Waldenbooks is the only mall store we do, and it is because both the store staff and the Marley Station Mall security are so good at making everything move smoothly. The next time we come here, there is talk of doing a Q & A in the center court of the mall. Suddenly I have images of a Debbie Gibson concert dancing through my head.
I?m on the train to Philadelphia right now, and I?m listening to some of the more odd music I have in my MP3 collection. Currently its ?Sentimental Journey? by Barry Manilow. Next up is Gregorian Music?s ?Dear Daniel? which is a song about being in love with Hello Kitty. What can I say, I?m just not right.
Cheers!

Another great event. We saw a lot of familiar faces. We were especially happy to see David and his mommy, and his grandma. Last time we did this Borders, David wasn?t quite born. But he was definitely on his way. Jonathon and I were called out from a magazine interview because someone had gone into labor in line, and could I sign her books before she had to go to the hospital. Of course. I thought maybe she had just started labor, but no, she was in very serious labor. I had images of baby delivery dancing before my eyes. Luckily she and her mother made it to the hospital, and Grandfather David e-mailed us picturs of little David later. I was happy my books had meant so much during her pregnancy. She said I helped her stay sane while she was doing forced bed rest for her pregnancy. Baby David is a very big boy now, and quite adorable. Thanks so much for the picture and the flowers.
Nothing quite that exciting happened this time, thank goodness.
We had about two hundred people. The wonderful staff made a homemade cake with little bats around the edges and a plastic werewolf almost as big as a Barbie doll on it. The icing was like greyish, but the interior was red velvet, very appropriate.
We?re on a train to Philadelphia as I write this. I haven?t been on a train since England. The thought makes me homesick for Trinity, and Jon?s parents, Art and Mary. We had such a lovely vacation. Next summer I?m hoping we can do it again.
I miss my kid. The sound of her voice, chattering about everything. Making friends wherever she goes.
The event was good, as always at this store. It was nice to see everybody; new faces, and familiar ones. I heard again how my books had helped people through deaths of close friends, illnesses of family members, grad school, bad jobs, so many things that my books have been a refuge from. We?ve reached that point in the tour where I am so homesick that I can barely stand it. I want my kid, my dogs, my own bed, my own routinue, my office, our house, our friends. I asked myself this morning why am I doing this? Why am I dragging Jon and I across the country? For my publisher, no. To help us get higher on the New York Times list, well, yeah. At lest that?s the theory my publisher has. To sell more books, well yeah. But last night none of that seemed enough to be so far away from home. Last night it was baby David?s picture I looked at, and all the fans that say how much the books have met to them that I thought about. For me, it has to be about meeting the fans. It has to be about seeing all those people that are reading my books. It has to be about talking to people that talk about my characters in a way that I do, like they are real and should be in the next room if we could just find the right door. I truly do love putting faces to all of you. I love hearing how much the books have meant to you. I?m frankly amazed how deeply some of you have taken the books to heart.
Enough for now. I?m going to try and write on the fourth Merry book now. I?ve never tried to write on a train. Wish me luck.

Hey everybody, this is me trying to recreate the post that the computer ate yesterday. Sigh. Here goes. We had a minimum of 200 people at the store. Estimates range from 230 to 250 depending on who was making the estimate. They didn’t give out line numbers so it was a little hard to tell. But line numbers are certainly no guarantee of accuracy. We’ve found that one line number may be held for two to five people. Interprising fans have been sending one person ahead to secure a place in line, then calling and letting the rest know. Or people are joining their friends after work or school ends. We are also getting people coming late at the end of the line after their shift or class is over. So whatever we hit the door with, you can at least add thirty to fifty, or even every once in an exciting while a hundred. Pretty cool.
We are staying until everybody gets something signed. We left two stores at about 1 AM. Yeah, you read that right. We, my husband Jonathon is with me of course, do the Q and A, then sign, then do more Q and A when I ice my arm about half or three quarters through. My arm is much better than it was last tour. The exercise is helping, darnit. In fact Jonathon and I just finished a twenty minute run on the tread mill at the hotel. And I ran, not jogged, for quite a bit of it. I find that two things help with the nervous energy and the mental exhaustion on tour — running or a heavy bag. Weights help, but not as quickly and not as well when the tension is high. We’re doing thirteen events in fourteen days. We love seeing everybody, but that is a lot in a short space. Exercise and an occasional nap helps.
We actually got out of two stores before the store closed. Yeah. It just depends on the size of the crowds. Largest has been over four hundred, but not to five, I don’t think. Smallest has been two hundred. Good crowds.
We’d done last night’s Borders before. So we saw some familiar faces. One, was our youngest fan. He came last time when he was only 10 or 11 days old. Yes, days, not weeks. This time round he was a very big boy, and very charming. We also saw a couple that had been at this store last time. My understanding is that they met in line at the signing, got acquainted, and are now married. They invited us to the wedding, but due to scheduling conflicts we couldn’t make it. They are the second couple that has met at a signing and gotten married. I never really thought of my signings as a dating service, but hey, if it works.
I know that a lot of people have made good friends at the signings, and on the website, and the fan club. As many people have remarked to me across the country, it’s so nice to be in a group where you know no one will think you’re weird. As if because we all like the same books, we know we all have something in common. If the fans I’m meeting are typical, then I have some very good people reading my books.
Jonathon and I got to see dogs yesterday, too. We’d recently helped out Dalmation rescue. The local Ohio rescue made plans to introduce us to one of the dogs we helped. His name was Hummer, and he was beautiful. He was very wiggly for me, but when Jonathon pet him, he got very calm. Both of the nice ladies, whose name I’ve blanked on, remarked how much Hummer liked Jonathon. As a special treat to us one of them had their son bring his pug puppy. Her name was Spice, and she was wonderful. I hadn’t realized how dog deprived I’d been, until I got to pet wriggly, furred, puppies. I was wearing mostly black, so I was rapidly covered in dog hair, because both breeds shed. Fawn pug and mostly white Dalmation all over me, but I didn’t mind, it reminded me of home.
We met some people from Transylvania University in Kentucky. We got shirts and book marks. I love the name of the place, don’t you? We also got to meet some real ghosthunters. They also gave us a shirt, but we shipped it home so I don’t have their info in front of me, so I can’t say what area they hunt in. Sorry about that. We’re shipping more and more stuff home as the tour continues. Sort of like the pioneers who started out with pianos and grandfather clocks but gradually shed them along the road side. I mean, do we really need that many pairs of jeans? No. But lucky for us we have Fed-Ex and don’t have to make hard choices. Now I have this image in my head of a commerical. You have a Fed-Ex truck drive up to a wagon train, and the Fed-Ex guy says, “Don’t choose between the things you love, let us take care of it.” Or something like that. Then the truck drives off into the sunset with one of the pioneers saying, “Why didn’t we ship ourselves to the coast?”
It’s not Fed-Ex I’m waiting for; it’s teleportation, or aparation. I’d settle for either. See some of you tonight in Baily’s Crossroads, Borders, Virginia.

Laurell wrote a great post about last nights even, but the computer ate it, and now it is gone to that place where all missing bits on the internet go.
We’ll see about trying to do it agin tomorrow.
Now I have to go to sleep
later

We were just reading over some of the earlier posts, and saw that a few of mine were missing some interesting details.
Like how I didn’t explain why I was on the phone doing tech support. It was because the network went down just after we switched to a static IP address. That is now fixed and we are back up and running. Next step is to fix a few DNS entries so that some pages we own will go live.
Then we saw my post about the kick off.. I could have sworn that there was a “t” in that sentence that makes me a lot less boastful. Oh well, it was supposed to be “It was phenomenal” not “I was phenomenal”. I’ve got a big ego, but usually I can keep it hidden a little better than that.
One of us will fill you in about the event tonight probably tomorrow.
Until then,
Cheers!

Hey everybody. It’s me trying to blog from the road. Is blog a verb? Anyway, the event was great. Saw a lot of people that we’d seen before. Hi to Anne, sorry you couldn’t be there in person. People have graduated from both high school, undergrad, and grade school. Babies born, kids getting older. Old friends bringing new faces to the event. Some of the stores we got to regularly it’s becoming like old home week.
Someone brought me roses. A dozen white with a single red. Cool. They sit on the desk as I type this.
We’re a day behind, so we just got in from a different event. We’ll put something up about that tomorrow, hopefully. But I gotta go to bed now. We’re on a plane tomorrow for Washington D. C. We’ll see some of you in the area on Monday at the Borders in Baileys Crossroads, VA. Bye for now.

Second Day out, and we’re finished width the signing already. We are going to Dayton, Ohio tomorrow, to do a signing at Books & Co. there. I’m hoping for as good a crowd there as we had tonight in Skokie.
But its been a long day, and I’ve been doing too much tech support over the phone to the office.
More later.
Cheers!