Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

48 hours until I start signing copies of The Waters

Usually I can eat just one peanut butter cup. But when I sat down at the big table this afternoon I ate nine. There were nine in the container, and I ate them all. And on January nine, my book is released and the adventure begins! Maybe I’m a little nervous. I’ll love seeing everybody on the book tour, but I’m a homebody, and I’ll be away from home. I’ll miss my darling Christopher and my donkeys and waking up in my shack. I’ll miss my routine. And my water flosser.

I’ll be driving and flying a lot, despite the weird leg-swelling problem I’ve developed. (I’ll take breaks and put my feet up when I can). I’ve got to decide about masking. I’m one of those people who are open to all the love around me and also open (apparently) to viruses. I get sick about twice as often as everybody around me, and when I get a cold or covid, I’m miserable for at least a month. At least part-time masking will be in order.

I’ve always maximized my action on my book tours, ever since 2000 with Women & Other Animals. I was even more extroverted back then, and I wanted any excuse to go anywhere. With each subsequent book, I’ve concocted a busier book tour—these books take so long to write that it’s crazy to not do everything we can do to sell a few copies more. My mom taught me to take every opportunity. My mom didn’t believe in getting worn out.

So I’ve been a little anxious, and so the peanut butter cups and awakening in alarm at 5am. But in the last few days, I’ve also been finding myself perking up, anticipating the adventure. I’m going to see people I haven’t seen in years. I’m going to be spending time in book stores, which are the very best places. I’m going to be able to talk about aspects of the book that have been stuck in my own head for all the years of writing. And for one trip, I’ll go somewhere warm, Oxford, Mississippi.

I just added Iowa City to my tour, in hopes of seeing Art White, my PhD Mathematics advisor. And I’m hoping my pal Dawn Burns can come along on the drive with me, for the road trip. If she can’t, I’ll listen to a good book on tape. (No, not The Waters, though maybe some of you will want to here Lili Taylor’s voice narrating the book). IF you have a suggestion, let me know.

On the first leg of my trip, I’m looking forward to seeing all my local Kalamazoo pals, starting with Dean Hauck of the Michigan News Agency, and then the whole gang at Bookbug. On the way to Bloomington Weds. January 10, I’ll stop in South Bend Indiana and visit my brother Marshall. In Bloomington, I’ll get to see Jenny Hawke for the first time in ages. In Chicago I’ll be in heaven, starting with visiting Uncle Terry and then visiting my old high school chum Karen Miller. And to spend an hour talking to Linda Bubon at Women & Children First will be magnificent.

I’m not sure who among my Chicago friends will come to W&CF for my Thursday January 11 reading, but for sure Mary Szpur (who actually lives in Indiana nowd). The very important person I look forward to seeing in Chicago is my friend and publicist Sheryl Johnston, who has been pulling out all the stops to make my book’s roll-out a success and a pleasure. I haven’t seen her in six months! Here she and I are in a photo in Bentonville, Arkansas. Yes, Sheryl is a rock star.

In Milwaukee on Friday, I look forward to talking with journalist Jim Higgins at Boswell Books, and I hope to have dinner with Claire Davis and Chris Fink, both brilliant writers who are from Wisconsin. And my final stop, Saturday afternoon, will be at the new-ish bookstore in Kenosha, Blue House Books, where I hope to Jennifer Singleton Miller; I’ve asked her to sit with me while I sign books—sometimes she reads books on Facebook. Maybe she’ll read to me while I sign!

And I can’t wait to see the rest of you on the journey. Cheers!