Snow ends, tour begins

Boy, has it been a weird winter.  Mid-January to early-February looked practically balmy here in Arkansas, and then we got slammed with three to four straights weeks of winter junk.  Nothing like the northeast got, of course, but enough that it put a significant hit on local schools and events, including an evening at the Big Rock Reading Series (in Little Rock) that I was dearly looking foward to participating in.  Two weeks later one day of our Arkatext Writers Festival had to be be canceled, the very day when a poet I was "in charge of" was supposed to speak.

The good news is that spring, at least in Arkansas, seems to have actually and truly arrived.  (As I type this, it's 72 degrees outside.)  And not a second too soon either, because starting this Thursday morning I'm heading eastward with my family in our minivan to visit relatives and do an Island Fog mini-tour.   One has to arrange these dates a ridiculous amount of time in advance, so I'm keeping my fingers severely crossed that in the northeast, even if it's colder than here, the snow and sleet and slush are done.   No more cancellations, please!

For anyone reading this blog who lives in or around upstate NY, here are the events I'm doing in the next ten days or so.  (I'm leaving off one date with a book club in Auburn, NY, because that's private!)

Saturday, March 21, 11a-1p: Book signing at Market Block Books in Troy, NY.  A lovely, old fashioned bookstore in an historic building in a charming city just outside of Albany.   [That's Market Block in the picture above.]  My father-in-law and his wife will be there, along with several of their friends.  Come join us!

Thursday, March 26, 7p: Reading and book signing at the River's End Bookstore in Oswego, NY.  I have heard nothing but rave reviews about this store from friends who live in and around the Syracuse area.  ("You have to go to River's End and read there!")  Well, after much scheduling and rescheduling it's finally happening.   [River's End is pictured on the right.]

Friday, March 27, 7p: Reading and book signing at the Downtown Writer's Center in Syracuse, NY.  This venue hosts an ambitious schedule of reading events every semester.  As a visitor from faraway Arkansas, I'm honored to be on the program.

One thing that's thrilling to think about is that people in upstate New York are surely more familiar with Nantucket, Massachusetts--the setting for every story in Island Fog--than are people in the south, even people in a sweet upscale college town like Conway.  So come on out, up-staters, and ask me whatever questions you can think of about that little island "away offshore."