ON TOUR: Hello Seattle! Hello Elliott Bay Book Company!

It was so great to do a book gig at home in SEATTLE. I just had to say, "Hello SEATTLE! Are you ready to READ?!" Yoon and I do these book talks together. After all, he also has his own point of view of our story. People seem to like it. He starts each reading by playing a gong and doing a chant from his monk days and then I begin the reading. He adds his own commentary to whatever I read which makes for a very entertaining event! I've had such a good time at each one of these events, but this one was quite special.

My father flew in from Florida and my sister, brother-in-law, nephews, aunts, a cousin and an uncle were all there. Also, it was so nice to see so many of my co-workers from Edmonds Community College at the event as well as friends from high school, college and beyond. I also got to meet a friend who has been following this blog for several years. It's nice to meet blog followers/friends in 3D! I've been fortunate to meet quite a few!

There's something different about doing a gig in your hometown. All the events have been well attended and joyful so far. But this event, particularly, had a lot of love and positivity. Perhaps that's because most of the people who were there have been part of my life journey.

Regardless of the location, however, I do believe there is an opening that happens when we all come together and share in a joyful manner. The energy that was created with all of these people seemed to expand out beyond place and time. That's what I felt yesterday and have been feeling all along my book tour.

I've been so much a part of the internet with my blog, book, etc. While I do think it's amazing how we can connect these days and I am so grateful to all the people I've had an opportunity to connect with here, it's nothing like meeting live.

I am grateful to every single person who came out last night for the event at Elliott Bay Book Company. We are working on plans for an east coast tour. Not sure how it will all pan out, but I'll keep you posted. The dates we are looking at are for the end of June. We hope to visit NYC, DC, New Jersey and Baltimore. If we get to those places, I'd love to see you!

ON TOUR: From Powell's in Portland to Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA

We headed out on book tour last Thursday! It's been a whirlwind. I believe we were in three major cities in less than 48 hours: Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. Before taking off to Portland, my agent e-mailed me with great news! A foreign agent in London has agreed to take my book on, which means it will most likely be published in other countries and languages! (Who knows—maybe there will be a world tour later?! )

Anyway, after a very short flight to Portland, (35 minutes from Seattle) we picked up our rental car and checked into the hotel. Our first book gig was not until 7:30pm, so we relaxed in the pool/jacuzzi a bit at the hotel and then got ready for the evening festivities. We used the GPS on my new iPhone to get us to our first book event at Powell's Books on Hawthorne Street at 7:30pm. After a nice little dinner at Toney Bento, we headed to the event.

It was a great turn out. My husband brought along his gong to play before the reading started. The bookstore was much bigger than I expected. It was great seeing so many people at the event and some familiar faces. After the book reading/signing, we went out with two friends for Vietnamese food.

The next morning we woke up at 4:00AM because we had a flight to San Jose, CA at 6:10 in the morning. We don't quite remember how we dropped the rental car off and got to our gate, but we did and before we knew it, we were on our way to CA just as the sun was coming up!

My publicist picked us up in San Jose and drove us to Berkeley where Seal Press/Avalon Travel is located. She gave us a tour of the facility and then we went out to brunch.

She dropped us off at our hotel and we took a little rest and then we had to get ready for our next book gig at 7:00pm at Book Passage. We were so sleepy by this point and I said to my husband, "This is how bands feel when they go on tour." And we were only on our second gig! Well, third if you include the launch.

It was wonderful to run into a blog friend and several acquaintances and friends at Book Passage! It felt like a little reunion. You never know who will turn up at these events and often they are people you've been dying to meet, are meeting for the first time and/or friends you haven't seen in years!

We hung out the next day with friends in San Francisco and now we are in Santa Cruz at a good friend's house and are finally catching up on needed rest. Thanks to all of you who came out for events! It's always wonderful meeting people on tour! There will be more gigs coming up. Please check the sidebar for details! Our next big event will be at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle on April 28th and then we'll be at Village Books in Bellingham on May 18th. There may be a few more events tucked in here or there, so I'll be sure to keep you posted! Hope you are all enjoying the book! I love comments and always respond to them here. I'd love to know how you found out about the book and if you enjoyed it! Thanks and more soon from the tour!