Book Tour, Day #2

Before beginning my book tour, I read about authors who hated the grind of going on the road. Authors live a hermit-like existence: we spend a few years working on a book and then we come out of our cave for awhile to talk about our work. Many writers choose the profession because they like to exist in isolation.

But I have the opposite reaction to my author tour. I am lucky to be on one, and it is a lot of fun.

I think it is incredibly interesting to talk about my book, and I am appreciative of people who come to hear me speak. I had a very nice day today. Bob Asmussen of the News-Gazette interviewed me, and I was on Mark Tupper's show on WSOY-1340 AM (Decatur, Illinois); The Daily Herald, the largest exclusively suburban newspaper in the Chicago area and the third-largest newspaper in Illinois, had a story about The Galloping Ghost.

At 7 p.m. I spoke at the Center for History in Wheaton (Illinois). Despite intense rains, John McCain's speech, and the opening of the NFL season, 30 people attended my talk and the Center sold out all of its copies of my book. I spent a lot of time chatting with people, many of whom knew Red Grange. It was really a nice evening and several people who helped me with the book were there supporting me, too.

But here is why I like author tours: you get to meet people impacted by your work; you get to create connections...I introduced myself to a woman who told me her husband was a Red Grange fan. Her husband was in ill health and in the hospital. She had read the Daily Herald article about Grange; she read it aloud to her husband. Her husband insisted that she attend the reading, meet me, and buy a book. She told me she would read The Galloping Ghost, as a form of comfort, to him.