(R.H. Herron)
Just a note, if you're planning to come to the signing on Saturday in Columbus (see here), I should make it clear that it's NOT a reading, it's a whole huge room of 300 authors (see here for list), all signing their books. And there's a five dollar cover charge. I just wouldn't want you to drive a long way to say hi, and then find out there are lines and charges. And no reading.
However, I would still LOVE to see you and say hi, iffen you wanna come by.
1. Stitches South was awesome. I met approximately one bazillion knitters, and sold a bunch of books, and spent time with the amazing Carolina Homespun booth (Morgaine, Lann, and Nada), and grinned like a fool-idiot for hours at a time. Best parts? When strangers who hadn't ever heard of my blog came up to me and told me that they'd loved the book. One woman told me she'd forgotten to pick up her kids at school as she raced to the end of it. Heh. And I met long-time readers who felt like old friends. Oh, yay. Loved it.
2. Saw the gang.
Look how cute the twins are with their babies, one out, one in. ADORABLE.
3. Hotels rock for sleep. I had one rough night (and the convention center kept giving me killer headaches that would almost morph into migraines and then get chased away by sleep), but for the most part, I sleep so well in hotels. Especially in this Best Western in Columbus (near the airport). Dang, this is a fine, cheap Pricelined hotel with a huge, comfortable bed, pretty furnishings, not-too-stale air, and a shuttle driver (Frederick) who puts all the others to shame (and he's a writer!). But today I move again, to be closer to the Romantic Times convention.
4. Today I get to go yarn-crawling with editor Theresa Stevens of Red Sage. We're making a tradition of it, convention-wise, and I think it's a very fine thing to do. And she rocks.
5. I am so glad we don't, have never, and never will have a TV in the bedroom. I learned last night how fun it is to flip channels (I NEVER FLIP CHANNELS) and watch dumb TV in bed. No wonder so many people do it! I'd have a serious TV problem if there were one in the bedroom. And there's nothing like falling asleep in front of Hoarders to stir up dreams of chaos. (Can't wait to get home and tear apart and reorganize my office. I will finally do it, I swear.)
6. Just ate free breakfast from downstairs. I never knew eggs could come shaped like that.
7. More adventures coming!
I'm getting ready to travel! Woot! I'll be at Stitches South in Atlanta all weekend, at the Carolina Homespun booth. Come say hello!
And then I'll be in Columbus next week, and I'll be back at the Carolina Homespun booth on the Sunday of Maryland Sheep and Wool* so I'd love to meet you if possible.
And oh, my goodness, I'm at work tonight (3am, just three more hours to go), then I'll get off work, go home, try to install mobile broadband on my computer** (ACK!), finish some laundry, pay some bills, and PACK before getting on the plane. I'm not counting on getting a nap before I leave, although it would be nice. There is something soothing about dropping exhausted onto a plane, though, isn't there? It'll be like a daytime red-eye flight for me. I used to say I didn't sleep on planes, but it isn't true — I don't sleep GRACEFULLY on planes, that's all. If you're seated next to me and I snore a bit, I hope you won't mind.
* I'll never forget when my friend Monica heard me say Sheep and Wolf Festival instead of Sheep and Wool Festival. It does, indeed, sound like that, and it is, indeed, alarming heard that way.
** Mobile broadband, through my cell phone attached to my computer – going with this through Verizon for the two weeks I'll be gone, since it'll be way cheaper than using hotel wifi anywhere (and you can cancel it when you come home!). Here's hoping it works. We're living in the future, people. Where's my jetpack?
Ahhhh. I just got home from an Avett Brothers show, and I'm here to tell you (again) that you should go see them when you can. They put on a show like no one else — they just get up and play — no real on-stage banter, just music.
And if you don't know them yet, I have a feeling you will. They're the real deal. So here's a little primer set of videos for your enjoyment.
#1 A whole show! Three acoustic songs in the NPR offices. OH SO GOOD.
#2 This is a little of what it's like to be at a show:
#3 Murder in the City.
I love this song. Oh, oh, oh. (And tonight, when he sang the last verse, he substituted "my daughter" and "her mother" for "sister" and "mother." The awwwws from the women in the crowd curled upward like smoke.
If you buy one album, I'd buy Emotionalism. Enjoy.
My friend Stephanie's daughter Leah finds the book. I think no one has smiled that big to find it since *I* did. What a face!
I knew you did. Please know that I read each and every comment, and thank you so much for sharing with me. It means the world.
I've decided to follow the plan of the book Heal Your Headache, and forgive me if I'm not fun at all for a while while I give up caffeine, alcohol, and almost all foods I like. (NO CHEESE? NO AVOCADO?) Hey, but if it works? It'll be worth it. And if it doesn't? I haven't lost anything but a couple of pounds, probably.
To reward you, I'll tell you about two of the best books I've read in a while. Very different from each other, and one of them might appeal to you if the other doesn't.
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake– Sarah Maclean – You might have seen me tweeting about this one. Sarah's a fellow Avon author, and I picked up her book because she's nice. (Nice people FTW!) But dude, THIS BOOK WAS SO GREAT! And people everywhere are talking about it, proven by this: In its first week (and this is her debut adult novel), IT HIT THE NYT BESTSELLER LIST! I couldn't be happier for her.
Let me just sum it up. Callie (Calpurnia) is long in the tooth (can't remember — late twenties? Practically dead). She's considered plain. She'll probably never get married. She sits with the other spinsters while everyone else dances. Then…she decides ENOUGH OF THIS CRAP. She wants to do things! She wants to shoot a gun! She wants to gamble! She wants to ride astride! And she wants to be kissed….
So Callie makes a few changes, and she sizzles. Sarah's a great writer, and she's smart, and I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Farm City – Novella Carpenter – Completely different, this is an urban homesteading memoir set in Oakland (oh, how I love you, Oakland). I've been a fan of Novella's since I first read about her Thanksgiving turkey in Salon.com lo these many years ago, and I've been lucky enough to have been to her small farm. I've seen her bees, her goats, her chickens. She writes beautifully, unflinchingly, about squatting on unused land, raising animals and food in the heart of the ghetto (I hate it when people call it that, and then I realize that yes, it is, indeed, an apt term and I should deal with it).
Her unwavering honesty is what I like the most about her book. There's a lovely scene in which Novella needs to go find more of a certain kind of plant for her chickens, and she walks by some kids that she'd been previously scared of. She doesn't like the reaction she has to them, but she chronicles it, watches it. Witnesses it. And she doesn't solve it. Things in the book remain unsolved and broken. But things grow and are used, they are appreciated for what they are, and then they move on to their next phase. Novella witnesses that transformation with an admirable grace. I loved everything about this book.