Author: Jonathon

Day 3 of the Tour

Day 3 of the Tour

10:00 AM – Live TV Interview TKR Cable “North Kentucky Magazine”

7:00 PM – Borders 11711 Princeton Pike Cincinnati, OH 45246!

Again, Again, Wow! Almost 300 people! This event was really great. The crowd was really great and so was the store. The staff at the Borders went above and beyond to make the event a success.

I would like to thank everyone for all the generosity with your time at the signing. We have yet to have an event last less than 4 hours, and we know how much it means for you to stand in line for that long or longer.

Unfortunately, because of both the numbers of fans (not a bad thing) and the tight scedual we are on, not to mention Laurell’s arm, we are going to have to limit signings to two (2) items per person. Both Laurell and I wish this was not nesicary, but in order to insure that everyone at the event gets something signed, and that we can get some sleep before we fly out again, we must make this change.

Now, we do know that some of you have children and you bring your children with you to the signing. Laurell has always been a family / child friendly author, and her signing have reflected this for as long as I have known her. What does this mean? It means that the children that go through the line count as people (because they are) and they get two (2) items also. Now, before any of you go out and rent a child, we only want people to bring in their own children, and not try to pass them around the signing to have more people get more things signed. This would back fire and punish everyone, instead of helping.

 

Day 2 of the Tour

April 3rd, 2003

Day 2 of the Tour

7:00 PM – Joseph-Beth 13217 Shaker Square Cleveland, OH 44120!

Another good event! And Laurell has asked me to explain why I’ve been doing most of the entry’s of late. Its simply because of the fact that after a signing, her arm is not capable of typing, and is needing to be iced and rested instead.

Joseph-Beth was its usual delight, and their children’s section is just amazing. The crowd was about what we expected. There was a pleasent number of familiar faces, from the last time we were here, though there has been some changes, mostly that some of the fans are getting taller.

I failed to mention last night that we had a lot of people come through the line who have a loved one over-seas in the military. Our hearts really do go out to both them, and their loved ones. I personally have been in their shoes, with my step-father being sent out just after 9/11. I just want everyone to know that we do know how you are feeling, and that out thoughts and prayers go out with yours, to bring everyone home safe as soon a possible.

I’m going to sign off now and try and get some sleep, as we have a very busy day tomorrow.

 

Day 1 of the Tour

Day 1 of the Tour

12:00 AM – Live Interview WDTN-TV(ABC) “Noon News”

2:00 PM – Live Radio Interview WYSO-FM (NPR) “Book Nook”

7:00 PM – Books and Co. 350 E. Stroop Road Town & Country Shopping Center Dayton, OH 45429!

Again, Wow. This time there was only 180 people, but still the crowd was magnificent. Doing this with only three hours of sleep has made today, one of the hardest things we’ve done so far. But the crowd was really nice and we had fun doing the Q & A. The Staff at Books and Co. were exceptionally helpful and friendly. A special thank you goes out to Robert, David, and Jocylin, without whom tonight would not have gone as well.

To all the fans at the signing, Thank you so much for being so understanding of Laurell’s arm. Though much improved from tours of the past, her arm is still in bad shape and needs to be rested often.

 

LAUNCH DAY OF THE CERULEAN SINS TOUR

LAUNCH DAY OF THE CERULEAN SINS TOUR

7:00 PM – Barnes and Noble Crestwood 9618 Watson Rd. Crestwood, MO 63126! Wow! There was like a billion people there. OK, more like 300, but still. The signing went really well, in that everyone got their book signed, but it took until midnight to get everyone through.

Several people have made the Blog, for good reasons. First is Traci/Pearly who gets the award for longest travel, she came from Sweden for the signing. Yes, she is originally from St. Louis and was home visiting family and friends as well. Another notable mention is Ben Bass and his wife Alica who brought us a miniature diorama of Anita and the gang in a graveyard. I hope to add the pictures when we get home.[Jon – 4/14 I’ve just gotten an e-mail from Ben & Alica with pictures of some of their minitures. I’m impressed. I now have a goal to aim for.]

Its 6:30 am on the 2nd and I’m in the airport typing this with only 3 hours of sleep, so if things seem funky, I apologize.

 

As I type this

As I type this it is only approximately 20 hours until the first event. I’ve been feeling the strain today, I complealy freaked and did nothing but read a book I was going to take, and made jewelry. I tend to do impractical things when I’m freaking. I spent a compleat day earlier this week, making the rest of the pages for the blog, and filling out the nessicary information on what events are where. Each day of the tour is posted, with the live events listed with time and location. And web-links if I could find them.
I am going to have to get a hold of myself, but I’m partially reveling in the insanity. I just have to remind myself that we’re only going to be gone for three days, and then we get to come home for a little bit. Having my computer blow up on me is just a topper to the tier cake of stress that I’ve been baking.
That’s another thing I do when I stress, bake. I turn into June Cleaver if there is going to be any social gathering at the house and I must bake at least one layer cake, decorate it and have it on some kind of display platter, or I don’t feel that I’m being a good host. Our friend Karen, shares a similar form of this reaction, but she does more in the way of standard cooking (“Brisket for 150? sure I did that yesterday, It probably hasn’t frozen yet.”) I know people who mop the floor, or who ceaselessly organize a given room until the stress passes. Me, I bake. I’ve been avoiding the kitchen of late, because if I stay there too long, I’ll bake something, and with us leaving in a few day’s, it would be wasted, and just attract more ants.
So, here is a big shout out to all those people out there who become more domestic when their world is being upset. You are not alone, and I’ll give you a cake if you’d mop my floor or clean my closet…

Low day, today

Low day, today, listening to THE BEST OF POOH AND TIGGER. I thought I could sink no more cutsey than THE VEGGIE TALES CHRISTMAS ALBUM, but I was wrong. When I feel stressed I listen to musicals. The book tha I’m having to leave in the lurch for tour is the third Merry Gentry book, SEDUCED BY MOONLIGHT. The muscial for the book was the newest Broadway version of THROUGHALLY MODERN MILLIE. On the days when muscials don’t do it, I turn to Christmas music. This book’s Christmas album has been THE VEGGIE TALES CHRISTMAS ALBUM. When I haven’t felt stressed and the writing has gone well, I’ve been listening to Tori Amos, Sarah McLaughin, Garbage, Sheryl Crow, a variety of music. Merry for some reason always needs to change music for either her mood or mine. Anita will pick an album and we’ll listen to it until I never want to hear it again. Though lately, I’ve found that as the books get longer, my patience with any one album grows thin. I can listen to the same music day in, day out for four hundred, close to five hundred pages, then I start wanting to hear something different. The album for this Merry book that’s come the closest to fitting my good days has been Nine Inch Nails,——. I especially like the song “Closer”. My husband, Jonathan, and my friend and assistant, Darla, know that when they hear Nine Inch Nails, it’s a good day, but when they hear musicals or Christmas music, it’s not a good day. Today is not a good day. We are only three days from the start of tour and I have intervies yet to finish; the afterward for the hardback version of THE LAUGHING CORPSE . . . oh, a dozen things like that left to do. I am great with a few hundred pages ahead of me. I love to stretch my legs and just write, but I am terrible at writing very short. Short stories when the muse comes striking, but short answers, essays . . . I struggle. It seems silly that a person who can write nearly a thousand manuscript pages of a book finds writing a few pages of afterward a chore, but it’s true. I am also a terrible letter writer. The journal for this trip will force me to be better at this last difficult writing task. To be able to write sort, pithy, and not to whine. I hate whining in others, so I’m not allowed to either. Damnit. I think without Jonathon to spell me on some days when I am not feeling particuliarly upbeat, the journal would not be possible. But that is what a spouse is supposed to be, a help-mate, a partner, in the truest sense of the word.

Sasquatch, our youngest pug(he’ll be two this year), has just joined me at the computer. He sits infront of the keyboard, and looks out the window mostly. But sometimes he looks at the words as they dance across the screen, and I swear that he knows that they mean something more to me. He can’t read, not yet anyway, but he knows that I’m doing something with those funny black marks. He knows they mean something to me, like the smells in the yard mean something to him, that I cannot understand.

When I set down, I was feeling stressed. Now a little of THE BEST OF WINNER THE POOH AND TIGGER, a little rambling typing. I hope not too rambling for your sakes’s. A good positive thought about my hunny-bun. And the last ingredient to change my mood, a puppy to cuddle. I would add my daughter’s hugs on this, but trying to work with a very active eight-year-old in the office, is not exactly relaxing. Besides, I’m not sure you should use your children as a stress relife. They are going to grow up and leave you, and have live’s of their own. I’m not sure it’s good to become too dependent on that wonderful brightness. Dogs are safe. They’re never going to end up in the therepaist’s office saying mummy and daddy smothered me with their need. Dog’s like being needed, especially if there’s a chance of food. Sorry, if this has moved hither and yon. All my friends will recognize how I think and I usually carry on a conversation if I’m not watching myself. Random thoughts, strung together. Sometimes I’ll hit a profound thought, sometimes not. Today, I’m going to hug my dogs, and that’s as profound as I want to be today.

 

Not much today

Not much today. More shopping, less fun. Went and got new luggage for the tour, as we needed them. Also picked out / up our new glasses. And a few new shoes. that’s about it. Going to call it a early evening, as we need the rest.

My Main computer is still down

My Main computer is still down, and I’m working through the secondary computer. Soon I’ll transfer to a tertiary computer for the duration.
Darla has told me of your requests for a message board of some kind over here, and I’ve given the go-ahead for that to happen, so hopefully that will happen soon.
We’ve gotten a look at our itinerary of the tour, and boy-howdy are w going to be busy!. Laurell is currently scheduled for more TV than ever before. and the scuttlebutt from our publicist is that if international news doesn’t get more “interesting,” we may be approached for even more. We’re sort of torn between hoping that things aren’t any more interesting because things are over with, and hoping things are more interesting because things are over with. Neither of us expect this to be done with by the end of April, but we do hope that as many of our service people as reasonably possible, are unharmed.
All the media is great, but is dose fill our already busy schedual. But the only thing we can do is to Grin, Bear it, and make the best use of our down time to rest and recuperate.

insert primal scream here…

insert primal scream here… now I have to run away and finish about half a dozen interviews that are due before we leave. Not to mention getting the final itinerary from New York so we will finally know what media we are doing in what in what city. Also we will learn today what flights we are taking and what god-forsaken hour of the morning they leave, due to the cancellation of so many flights over the last few months, it’s harder to pick an hour you actually want to fly. And they are still telling you to get to the airport two hours ahead of time for domestic flights. My agent, Merrilee, said I could only do the tour diary if I could stay cheerful. I tried, I really tried, but with less than a week to go I am loosing this particular battle. If I wasn’t phobic about getting on an airplane, this would be so much easier. May I add that my fears have nothing to do with 9/11, or the current world political climate. My phobia predated all of that by years. I will not tell the story here and now, about how I became afraid to fly. With a plane a day looming ahead of us for most of the month, I am trying not to think of that partiucliar event. Let’s just say that once I enjoyed flying. I thought it was fun until the memorable day that I watched the plane I was in ceiling fast enough, and far enough to press the stewardess to the ceiling of the plane, as if she’d been glued there. It was in that moment that I stopped enjoying airplane rides. I love seeing all you guys at the signing. I really do, but damn where is that teleportation technology when you need it. Now, I really do have to run away and finish interviews, essays, and oh, yeah, my daughter’s spelling homework. Well, okay, maybe Jonathon will be doing that last part. Though’s he’s already scheduled to take the dogs into the groomer. We need those sharp little nails cut before they get petsitted. I will end this as I began . . . insert primal scream here. A two primal scream day, eek!!!

 

Nothing new today

Nothing new today. Just us going to the doctor, making sure we are healthy enough to go on tour, which we are. Me getting a new Driver’s License so I have a valid ID to get through the airports. And shopping for more clothes. we are sick of shopping for clothes. I’m having trouble remaining cheerful today. but it could be that I’m doing yesterday’s blog entry… Or it could be that my main desktop computer blew up yesterday and I’m working through a secondary computer… but that could just be my own personal gripe.