This entry was posted on 3/8/2007 11:16 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
Every writer dreams about going on a book tour.
It's the ultimate Rock Star fantasy. We writers may not have
screaming groupies following us, we may be completely tone-death, we
may have no musical ability whatsoever...but we don't feel that
different from the Rolling Stones when we tell people "We're going on
tour."
And our tour began with Chicago...
WEDNESDAY
9 am: Michelle and I are at the airport. We're debating whether or not
we should get something to eat or wait until we get to Chicago.
We look at our itinerary and discover that we have a $100 a day meal
budget. We immediately head to the Au Bon Pain Express.
1 pm: After checking into our hotel, we decide to get some genuine
Chicago fare and go gorge ourselves on stuffed, deep-dish pizza.
3 pm: After riding in numerous cabs around Chicago to do all our stock
signings, Michelle and I are feeling pretty car-sick. We decide to take
a walk around Chicago and get some air. As we walk past the
river, we're captivated by the gigantic, broken shards of ice littering
the surface of the water. There's something vaguely scary and
apocalyptic about the scene -- it's like Mad Max in the frozen tundra.
5 pm: We're FREEZING. Deciding that we had gotten more than our
share of fresh air, we dash into Hershey World and happily sip some
delicious hot chocolate.
8pm: I head off to get tapas with my law school roommate Jen, while Michelle has dinner with her aunt, uncle and cousins.
12 am: I happily snuggle into my bed for some much-needed sleep.
Michelle? I get an e-mail that she's on some riverboat casino....
THURSDAY
11 am: Michelle and I head to Northwestern Law School. I'm supposed to
give a 30 minute talk to the law students, and I have no idea what I'm
going to talk about. Sure, I'm a lawyer, but that doesn't mean I give
speeches every day. As it turns out, I ended up talking for way longer
than 30 minutes, we had a great audience, and the time just flew by. By
the end, Michelle practically had to drag me away to get me to stop
talking.
3pm: After trying to do a little shopping, Michelle and I decide that
while we love Chicago and it reminds us a lot of home, it is just WAY
too cold. We head to our new favorite place - Hershey - for some more
hot chocolate.
7pm: We're at Borders for our book event. Upon arrival, we see a
display of our books and a big picture of us and our names in the front
of the store - is that cool or what? Even cooler - we see 3
people already there waiting for our reading!
7:20pm: The same 3 people are the only ones there. Michelle and I are
getting a little worried. Michelle calls her aunt - who is just leaving
her house. Yikes!
7:30 pm: Miraculously, people start filing in! Soon, it's standing room
only and the Borders manager has to bring over more chairs. Guess
everyone's a procrastinator. My friend Jen shows up with her book
club. Michelle and I start our reading. Afterwards, we have our
Q&A and some really great questions are asked. One guy who's
there announces that the minute he saw that our book was "Joy Luck Club
meets Sex and the City", he was hooked. Cool! Plus we sold a ton of
books!
9:30 pm: We head to dinner with Michelle's family. It's
All-You-Can-Eat-Sushi for $16.95 a person. The hook is that if you
order more than you can eat and you leave food on the table, you have
to pay more money. Hmm...eat more and pay less? Interesting
logic these Chicagoans have....
11 pm: Time to get some sleep - we're getting up at 3 am for our flight. Ugh!
Next Stop: Los Angeles.
