Lessons from the booktour

We returned last week from a whirlwind west coast book tour. Here are some lessons and reflections on the journey:

1. 12 cities in 14 days qualifies as overbooking!

2. Driving 9 hours in any one day with book event in between qualifies as poor planning! And learned that book events and driving are not always the best combo.

3. Motel continental breakfasts now almost routinely include make your own waffles. I can safely say that any waffle craving I had at earlier moments of this pregnancy are well taken care of and I can easily go to term and probably for a full year without eating a waffle.

4. The people who ask the most questions are universally the least likely to purchase a book.

5. There is no rhyme or reason to turn out, book sales or responsiveness of a crowd. Making predictions is fun to show how off we are almost every time!

6. How many people in the world, let alone authors, can say that Yuma was a highlight?

7. The saddest moment of the book tour was stopping in Dateland AZ. What was once my favorite town in AZ, the place that grows the most dates of any place in the US and is world famous for dateshakes a brilliant invention that combines ice cream and dates, any better combo ever? has been torn down and replaced by a quiznos and a quickiemart gift shop. Quiznos now sells date shakes that take about 15 seconds to make. The diner is gone - the 1950's date gift shop is gone and one more piece of quintessential Americana is gone forever. It was a devastating stop that allowed us to get to our destination quicker than planned because I was far too distraught to hang out.

8. Got to catch up with wonderful friends in LA, Bay area, Portland and Seattle.

9. Realized that Tucson is the only place we have ever spent 2 months in without making a single friend - as exemplified by our crowd of 5 people at the U of A book event, far and away the worst turn out of any where! And we managed to be in Tucson for the first rainy day in 6 weeks and by rain in Tucson I mean torrential downpours for 8 hours straight!

10. It was so fun to meet members of the lettuce crew and hear their memories from the 08 season. Almost every one of their memories is in the book which I really hope comes out in Spanish soon so they can read it!

11. Who knew we knew so many people in Portland?

12. Mr T. walked to the studio to do the Tavis Smiley interview, no guest has EVER walked to the studio for an appearance - got to love LA!

13. Visiting LA on a beautiful clear day right after a rain storm offers best views ever!

14. Fun to visit so many independent bookstores on the west coast, somehow we never had enough time to ever browse or buy any books - in fact I probably read less in those 2 weeks than on any trip I have ever been on, except for a CISPES delegation. . .

15. My favorite question that Mr. T had to answer. Day 5 after 2 stressful media events, 5 bookstores and driving from AZ to LA and south, and a good 95 minutes into the event aka 95 min. of him talking straight, the following question comes from a senior in the crowd who has been dozing on and off for the whole talk: "What was in your heart when you decided to write this book?" And the brilliant answer: "I have a terrible memory, I don't really remember what was in my heart."

16. Knowing when to cut off a Q and A is an art form that many moderators do not possess!

17. Learned that hardcore Maoists still exist and they like to share their views.

18. I really like our bed!