Midwest tour wrap-up (& how awesome Columbus Press is)

Gang, I’m done. I’m home again in Portland.

I have had an amazing time on tour in the Midwest — in Ohio, Indiana, and even a quick trip through northern Kentucky. The readers and audience members and students and colleagues have been fabulous — so supportive, so enthusiastic for my novel! — and seeing old friends and making new friends has been exhilarating.

And then there’s Columbus Press. You guys! You need to do whatever you can to support these folks. Buy my book, obviously, but don’t stop there — BUY ALL THE BOOKS!

The gang at Columbus Press, as well as the literary community in Columbus and the writers resource group Columbus Creative Cooperative, have been outstanding. They wined and dined me (by which I mean whiskeyed and veggie hot-dogged me), and they introduced me to a lot of great venues, and they  set up amazing book-related events that also benefit the community, and they shared their lives with me . . . .

This is what a small press relationship is supposed to be like. Or at least it’s what I always hoped it would be like.

So, in short, the folks at Columbus Press are just all-around beautiful human beings. Writers, I hope that someday you’re lucky enough to get to do business with them. And readers, you can already do business with them and support their work.

Huge thanks, too, to a whole bunch of other folks:

• Columbus Creative Cooperative
• the Bexley Public Library
• the Columbus JEN gang, and all the people who participated
• the students and faculty at Columbus State Community College
• the students and faculty at Ivy Tech in Indianapolis
• the students and faculty at Indiana University Southeast
• Brooks Rexroat, organizer of Folk & Fiction Cincinnati, and the gang at The Listing Loon
• all the people who bought my book this past week or so
• my wonderful wife, who held down the fort back in Portland while I was off having all this fun

But we’re not done yet, gang. Next Monday, October 6, I’m reading with author Eva Hunter at Annie Bloom’s Books here in Portland, and then on October 10 I’ll be joining Timothy Gager and a whole crew of other writers at the Jade Lounge in Portland. And there’s more on the way, so stay tuned!