DTW tour: day 1 - we have a launch!!

Yo ho ho

Hey y'all!!  I'm writing to you from overcast Baltimore (it's totally fine that it's overcast because yesterday was amazingly gorgeous!).  Even though the tour didn't start until yesterday, I flew up early on Sunday so that I could hang out with my pal and critique partner, Diana Peterfreund (she blogs about the visit here, including picture of me looking like I'm about to eat her dog's brains).  Yesterday, as per my amazingly organized and detailed itinerary (thanks Kelly and Jess!!) she drove me up to Baltimore where we strolled down to the docks near the hotel and partook of Maryland crab soup with a wonderful view.

Yum!

Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for the signing and what should have been a calm ordered afternoon turned into a circus.  First, the room was 90+ degrees which meant we had engineers coming in and out (couldn't switch rooms for some reason).  That was fine, I got to hear some pretty funny stories about things gone wrong in the hotel :)  Then someone came and dropped off wine and cheese -- always appreciated and happy-making :)  And then the phone rang about seven times -- the front desk with a package, the engineer checking in, etc.  Thank goodness Diana was here to field everything as I ran around trying not to get nervous!

Emma Joanne and I

Trusty rent-a-pal and escort Craig picked us up and drove us out to The Childrens Booksstore for the launch of The Dead-Tossed Waves!!  They had signs up, books displayed and were just wonderful.  It's a great little bookstore that has that feeling when you walk in that makes you want to just stay and sit and read.  I prob read a little too fast (I'm still not used to reading my own work out loud) and had just a total blast talking to everyone.  I even got to run into a family who'd been at my The Forest of Hands and Teeth launch in Greenville and a few other people I'd chatted with online.

All in all it was a fantastic event -- I really adore when everything's relaxed enough that we can all sit around and chat and have fun!

Eat. Prey. Love.

Then it was back to the hotel where Diana and I set off in search of more food.  As it turns out, there's a gorgeous Barnes & Noble in an old building near the harbor-area and so we stopped by to sign stock.  That's where I got my first glimpse of the book dump in real life and there was much squee-ing from me :)

Today I'm supposed to be catching up on blog tour posts but don't tell my publicist that I might sneak out this afternoon to go explore that really cool ship and make a visit to the National Aquarium right down the block.  I LOVE aquariums and don't want to miss this one :)

Tomorrow I'm off to NYC!!  Here's the info on where I'll be and when!!

Thanks everyone for all the love yesterday -- I can't tell you how amazing it was to open my email or twitter feed and see the mentions of The Dead-Tossed Waves!!  It really felt like one huge party that lasted all day :)  I also woke up to find out that my local paper, The Charlotte Observer, had an article about me on the front page!  And then I saw that MTV reviewed DTW and had wonderful things to say!

I'm sure I'm forgetting all sorts of stuff I planned to blog about today :)  I've been trying hard to keep posting to my twitter feed though!  Thanks again y'all for sharing all this with me!!!