Home Sweet Homecoming

I am officially back. Some were suprised to see me at the Tim Cahill event last week at Easy Going, but that's because it was stealth. I hadn't told people I was back yet, for sanity's sake. I crashed hard around week 6.5-7 of the tour and except for at the events was quite the grouchy pain in the arse. Ask my friend Leigh —she deserves a big heavy gold bra that she can either melt down and sell or give me a good ole konk on the noggin! Good news is that the grouchy spell is over with. I had anticipated needing lots of down time last week, but all I needed was to turn the phone off. I'm in fine spirits, not that tired, and I can proudly say that I didn't get sick. I was just telling TT that I did a great job of getting enough sleep on the trip, even if I was on the computer till nearly midnight most nights. The old me would've been down for at least a week with the flu or something, so this is good. But that's just my vent. Check out all the really cool things I came home to:

• Sand is an East Bay Bestseller--#8!
• The Smoke Signal singles out Sand in My Bra: Big thanks to Kevin Smokler who featured us in his newsletter that goes out to 2,000 bibliofiles. Read the high praise here:

  "On the plane back from Chicago, I ripped through “Sand in My Bra”, a travel collection of funny stories from women on the road edited by friend Jen Leo. I don't travel much, kinda suck at it, and am, for the most part, a man. Yet I recommend this collection hardily. Why? It's probably the best airplane/toilet/beach book to come out this year. The writing is breezy and personal. The stories make you laugh in that involuntary guffaw sort-of-way and the writers have all been places that I now want to go. Plus, Jen has this amazing blog (www.writtenroad.com) where she talks about her own travels, travelers resources and the quest to put this slim little wonder of a book in your hands. I'm helping out, not just because I like her, but also because she's done a bang-up job in a volume that fits in your back pocket. And some of my favorite writers (Sarah Vowell Annie Lamott, Adair Lara) all make an appearance. "

• I will be on an Oregon Live webcast Noveber 19 from 12:30-1:30pm: This was set up by a woman who I met at the Book Expo this year. I'll be giving you the link so you can join the fun when we finalize the details.
• Hosted speaking event to the Women's Automotive Association International
• Magazine assignment in BREAK, STA Travel's new mag: Yep, this came through. I got the contract today. $1/word!
• More paid work at Travelers' Tales
• About to sign the contract for Whose Panties Are These?

and hot off the press, the latest of the newest good news: I will have earned my first royalty check for Sand before it's first anniversary. Before I left for the trip our guesstimated numbers said I probably wouldn't earn through my advance and expenses until late 2004 with a check in January of 2005. But the new numbers show that I'm a month or two from that and will get a small check in March. We dont' know how much yet, but I don't care that it's small. The most important thing to note is that it's done well enough to get to the point of earning a second check. That's good for Travelers' Tales AND for me. So the first normal sized (what's normal anyway?) royalty check will be received in summer of 2004. This is about six to nine months earlier than we had projected. AND we're going to print again! That pushes us over the 20,000 mark!