Back from LA

Okay, so first let me explain - the only way to pack for a cruise and THEN a book tour is to bring multiple, but slightly different, white t shirts that I can wear with jeans, Converse (red or black) and a black sweater and roll those up in a corner of the suitcase that's already packed with vacation stuff. So yeah, yeah - it looks like I never changed clothes. Get. Over. It.

LA was wonderful! Huntington Beach, Glendale, Pilgrim School, Taft HS - it was a grand tour and I had such a blast meeting everyone. After six days away, I need to get back into the real world, but it was fun while it lasted. (Btw, if you've never cruised - this whole 24 hour room service thing was a revelation. PB&J sandwiches on demand. Seriously? I'm in heaven. And something called chocolate melting cake... but i digress.

Thank you!! to the CRM's at the Glendale and Huntington Beach Barnes and Nobles. Your stores are fabulous. And the students and staff and especially teacher/librarian Kathleen Sheppard (who should get a medal for her wonderfulness) at Taft HS in Woodland Hills - you guys all rock! Best school visit ever. We talked books and fairy tales and life journeys and writing and even did some Haunted t shirt giveaways. Literacy and reading are alive and well in sunny So Cal! Everyone reading this should go hug their teachers and librarians and booksellers. The world is a better place because they're in it.

And Glendale B&N was especially fun because I got to be there with my intrepid cowgirl agent, Jen Rofe, who was my escort for the day and who took me to Portos Cuban bakery where I ate my weight in potato balls and chicken empanadas; and authors Lauren Strasnick and Ken Min, who stopped by for the fun. Plus Lauren's dad Kenny Stras, and Jen's parents and their friends. And even the delightful Kelsey - who was part of the bachelorette cruise and came to hang with the writers for a night.

Plus I got to drive another Kia and I am now a veteran of LA traffic. The 405, the 101, the 5, the 134? I've been on them all. And lived to tell the tale. Even squeezed in an hour at the Getty museum. Do you know that you park and then take a tram up a beautiful mountain? I didn't want to leave.

Next up - Salt Lake City at the end of the month.

Me with my sign at Glendale B&N
The amazingly wonderful students at Taft HS

My Spirit Club helpers plus friends at Taft

The only pic I took at Pilgrim, but you have to love a school that has this as you walk in the building

in Huntington Beach B&N