And so all good things must come to an end...

Ah, the end of the tour. The end of posh hotels, of complimentary goldfish, of lobster meals, the pecan pie and leopard-print dressing gowns.
It's how we authors roll.
I cannot believe it's over. the last two weeks have been pure insanity. Freaking insanity. Where to begin?
With my film agent, Jerry, and our Hollywood VIP meeting? The awesomeness of school visits? The amazing bookstores?
No, I must begin with Rachel Hawkins, my tour-buddy in arms. The last tour was fun, but lonely. Travelling around the country is basically limited to visiting hotels and the events. You do not get to see much of the destinations themselves. Lost of evenings dining alone.
So, it was rather splendid to travel with someone like Rachel. I'd been told how funny she was. True. And how Southern. Also true. But we've had a blast from start to finish. We've seen the dangers of freaking on the dance floor, the deleriousness of 3.30am starts and endless flights and security checks and discovered what fun it is to do joint events. Ever tour should include a Rachel. And a goldfish. Having a goldfish in your bedroom just strikes me of Imperial decedance. No idea why.
I've had a chance to meet loads new people, my Greenhouse buddy Lindsey Leavitt, Aprilynne Pike, Joy Preble and of course the great bloggers and readers that have supported us from start to finish. The questions and anwsers sessions have been great, and I hope you now understand the dangers of reading stories like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to your children. I've mentioned the librarians before but will do so again. They make readers. It's as simple as that. Given the current pressure libraries are under I feel we're in danger of losing immensely valuable people, and we're going to suffer for it in the long term, and suffer BIG TIME.
None of this would have happened without Dinsey-Hyperion, my publisher, and their team of media liasons. I'd still be lost at the airport if it wasn't for them. They link us up with the bookstore owners and make sure every store we go to is an event. Some of these stores are legendary. Murder by the Book, Hicklebee's, Third Place Books, Blue Willow, Copperfields, Square Books to name just a few. The owners LOVE what they do and they are characters worthy of the most outrageous fiction themselves (yes, I mean you, Jill).
I'm going to blog more extensively, once my brain has had a chance to filter all the madness out. This tour has been FUN. Those that attended, thank you for coming. Those that didn't, well, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? Honestly, the stuff you've missed.

I have the best fans EVAH!

What's been brilliant about this tour is the chance to meet up with people I've only known through Twitter or FB or blogs.
This here is me with Ari, the brains behind Readung in Colour, an awesome blog that looks at the issues of ethnicity in YA and children's books. I'd corresponded with her over the last few months so it was incredibly cool to meet her in Chicago.
Now, I've written the first two Billi books (Devil's Kiss and Dark Goddess if you've been paying any attention). I'm DESPERATE to write Billi #3. OMG, I have such plans. We're talking about dark secrets, Assassins, betrayal and the true nature of the Oracles. In a way, the first two books were all part of foreshadowing the final twists for book 3. But there will only be a book 3 if sales improve. As simple as that. My publisher, Hyperion, have been splendid throughout. Hey, they've got me out here and teamed up with Rachel Hawkins to get the books out there. But there are a hell of a lot of books being publsihed in YA right now and sometimes the most splendid books can just get lost in the crowd. It would be a shame for that to happen to Billi before her story is complete.
And this is why I'm so touched that people like Ari, Stacey, Pam, Pat, ReadingTeen and so many others are doing there bit to save Billi SanGreal.
I'm incredibly flattered (and somewhat humbled) they're so enthusiastic in spreading the word to others so Billi may yet rise again.
Time and time again I come across the passion people feel for books and stories that is rare in other media. I've met with librarians who transform small school visits into huge events, booksellers that will give beginning authors the venues and support eqaul to any big name NYT bestseller. I've already mentioned the bloggers but will do so agin. I think a large part of the success of YA is down to support from all these different people. All unpaid and without real acknowledgement that they are crucial to getting our books out there.
I'm approaching the end of this tour and there may yet be a few surprises still to come, but I've enjoyed the last week and a half like nothing before. It's been great to meet a few familiar faces. It's been awesome travelling around the country with Rachel and it's been an education in seeing the enthusiasm everyone has for books and YA especially.

We came, we saw, we said 'Cheese!'

It's half way through the epic US tour with my tour buddy, the elegant and very Southern Rachel Hawkins.
LA, Chicago, Memphis and now Texas. It's pretty intense and there's a risk of the mid-tour dip. We don't all have the tiger blood of Charlie Sheen. Us mere mortals get worn out.
Then we went to Pasadena High School.
OMG, it was a total riot! There was (almost) a riot (fire alarm actually, but hey, riot sounds more dramatic, don't you think?).
School visits are great. Especially when everyone in the audience has read your books and wants to get in deep. Secrets were spilled, that's for sure. The pupils and staff were exceedingly awesome and I explained why severed body parts should not be stored in your fridge. True story. Also, I've never been to a school where there were so many girls who looked exactly like how I imaged Billi, dusky, dark haired and dark-eyed. And those at Pasadena KNOW what I'm talking about.
The school events have been varied. We've had unicorns, y'know. A whole stampede through Hutchinson's.
How could the event be topped? I don't know but Blue Willow Books that evening came pretty damn close. Lots of great people (especially Mundie Mom Kathy, Joy Preble and mom for the fourth time Clare (your kids are so sweet!)) and splendid atmosphere.
Rachel's slowly teaching me how to speak like a southern gentleman. Y'all.
So, we're heading off to the legendary Murder by the Books this afternoon at 3pm, then flying to sunny Phoenix for an event at Changing Hands (Sun, 2pm).
All the details are up on my website events page!

Tour continues. And they brought pie!

This is Stacey from PageTurnersBlog and we met yesterday at Anderson's bookstore in Naperville and she brought a (home-made) pecan pie, for me!
And jolly nice it was too. In fact, so nice I had it for breakfast.
This actually brings me to today's discussion. The bloggers. Not only did I meet Stacey, but Ari from Reading in Colour and Heidi and Jasmine (yabibliophile and the reading house wives blogs respectively).
I am in awe of their commitment and enthusiasm for the world of books and YA. Ari is frighteningly young and incredibly wise, well beyond her years, it's very very cool to have such people supporting your books. She totally should be president.
Rachel Hawkins and I went out for supper with a few of them afterwards and I sat there somewhat embarrassed by how much more knowledgeable they were about my industry than I was. And this is done out of love and passion, they don't get paid and frankly bookbuying is not a cheap hobby, especially nowadays.
I pick up a lot of my readung list by checking out what they're recommending, and they know their stuff. With the printed press only reviewing the big, established names, their's is really becoming the only way of finding out what's new. They review everyone, famous and not so famous.
So, to all the bloggers out there, I salute you. Keep up the incredible good works you do, we couldn't manage without you!