Road Trip!

Dear Minions,

I will be away for the next four days. Although I'll have access to my email, I cannot say the same about the Internet - it will be hit and miss. I am going to a book signing in Quincy, California.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the region, Quincy is in the northeastern part of California. Here:

It is the county seat for Plumas County. Out of the 20,000 residents of the county, Quincy is home to 1,879 of them.

I live in Placentia, which is in the southwest part of California. Here:


Listen - can you hear the sound? It's all of your brains, thinking, "Why would she make a 1200-mile round trip to such a small location?"

Because they asked me. When I was up there in August, I stopped by a few bookstores to introduce them to Freezer Burn. Christine Crawford, the owner of Epilog Books in Quincy, read it, loved it, and emailed me about doing an event.

My options were to wait until next August, when my family vacations there again, or to find a time and a way to get up there while my book is still new and fresh on the market. What's a girl to do?

I tossed it about in my mind for a few days, before deciding that I could visit bookstores and libraries on my way up and back. Somehow, I find it easier to sell people on Freezer Burn when I meet them face-to-face. I have friends in Sacramento to visit, as well as San Jose, so I can visit with them. As a matter of fact, Marsha (the Book Club Cheerleader) Engstrom is near Sacramento and invited me to an author's luncheon while I'm there. The featured author is John Lescoart, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I'm really excited about the trip, although I'm hoping that the 12-year old minivan with 185,000 miles on it is a good sport about it all. (I promise to clean out the back before I go.)

I can't decide what the best part will be - meeting new people or coming home with stories to tell. Admit it, you know I'll have them. See you all when I get back. And if you live in the Quincy area, come by and see me!

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Post Script: Here is my horoscope for the week of September 17th. I'm not certain whether I should be trembling in fear or happiness...

Pisces Horoscope (courtesy Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology)

Your quest has come to a fork, Pisces. Down one path lies a tumultuous obsession -- a compulsive, tormented hunt like Captain Ahab's pursuit of Moby Dick. In the other direction, a graceful chase beckons, more in the manner of Sir Galahad's pure-hearted search for the Holy Grail. Choose one fork and your quarry will be beastly, impossible, and frustrating. If you choose the other fork, your quarry will be magical, earthy, and transformative.