I debated whether to take a laptop and blog while I'm on book tour, but decided against it. I'd have to buy a new laptop and load my stuff on it (if you've ever done this, you know what a chore it is). And of course, if I had a laptop, I'd have to answer my email (another huge task). So picture me sinking into a hot bubble bath at the end of a long day of driving and speaking and book signing, with a double gin and tonic at my elbow--rather than hunched over a computer, blearily blogging. (Yes, I know: I could blog by phone. I gave that idea up, too, for similar reasons.)
But fear not. I'll be with you here in virtual reality, since Typepad allows me to pre-post entries. While I'm on book tour (April 1-May 7), I'll be maintaining a virtual presence on this blog by posting some of my favorite entries from earlier years, photos, and other items of note. Check back every few days to see if I've posted something for that day, or better, sign up for one of the feeds.
Today is Tuesday, right? I'm scheduled to get on a plane, fly to Chicago, rent a car, and drive to Indianapolis. Why not just fly to Indy, you ask? Good question. The answer: for a direct flight, I'd have to leave impossibly early or impossibly late. And it's actually quicker to drive to Indy than to wait for the next connection out of O'Hare. Go here, if you're interested in what I'm doing for the next couple of days.
Reading Note, by Ray Bradbury:
If you want to write, if you want to create, you must . . . write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy head . . .