Notes From A Book Tour

While da Vinci and I have been touring the world (wide web) together, I just couldn't resist parading my hunky 25-year old Italian hero of Dating da Vinci in real life, too. He may be a figment of my imagination, but it's sure been fun talking to people in person about "my guy" and the young widow, Ramona Elise, who adores him.
In the last two weeks I've made six appearances in Oklahoma, and wanted to share some highlights with you.

• At Full Circle Books, a wonderful independent in Oklahoma City where I had my official launch party, an elderly gentleman who is not related to me or my husband, came up and bought my book. My MIL comes up and says - do you think he knows your book is for women? Me: Um, if he couldn't tell from the title and the cover, then, no I wasn't going to point it out to him.
• At the fab Girls Night Out La Dolce Vita part at Bravo, forty+ women came, listened to a guest life coach, we drank Flirtinis and I kicked out the male waiters so I could read the gals a saucy shower scene.
  
• At Best of Books, a darling independent in Edmond, OK, one of the booksellers told me she had read my book and it made her cry - and said that it's really tough to make her cry. I thanked her. Yes, authors get a thrill from making people cry.
• At the Weatherford Public Library, I bought some pizza pies and talked to a nice group of women AND men who came out to hear about the book. The mayor and the president of the university both bought signed copies of the novel for their wives. How sweet is that?
• At the Woodward Public Library, I met several aspiring writers who were thrilled to meet a published author and I was happy to give them a pep talk to keep on writing. And the paper came out and took a photo. Gotta love semi-small towns.
• At the Oklahoma Ink event at the Harweldon Mansion in Tulsa, 20 authors gathered, including powerhouses like Billie Letts (where the heart is) and crime/lawyer novelist William Bernhardt and amazing YA author Ally Carter. The best part was meeting the other authors and signings lots of books for Christmas gifts and talking guys into getting the book for the "chick" in their life since they came to get one of the manlier novels. Second best part? The free wine.
  The rest of my tour is online - so I'll see you in Cyberspace! Just a few days left to enter to win a Sephora Makeup Kit at www.malenalott.com.