What I learned touring

I am back from the one city every night sort of tour and have settled down into the two events every month until May mode. What have I learned touring?

1. Always check for bedbugs at every hotel. Even when you are so exhausted you sort of don't want to.

2. Contrary to popular belief, airports sometimes have great food! I slogged past a McDonalds and a Starbucks and the usual tired pizza to find this little restaurant tucked in the wall that had penne and smoked gouda with truffle oil and a fresh green salad for only ten bucks. Even better, they had a wine list to die for!

3. Pack light. You can sleep in your clothes. I learned this when I forgot to pack pajamas.

4. If your suitcase is still too heavy, smile charmingly at the men in front or behind you on the plane so they will gladly help you hoist your bag up.

5. Room service is God's gift to authors. And sometimes you get a cloth napkin and flowers and sometimes it's just paper. But it's still God's gift.

6. Literary types do love reality TV. (I learned this at an AWP dinner!)

7. You CAN wear the same dress three days in a row and not want to kill yourself.

8. No matter how much you check, you will lose things. Sigh. Wish it wasn't the synopsis of my new Algonquin novel, though. But I do have a copy on my computer. Not marked up though. And I lost my speech. But I remember it.

I had a blizzard in Connecticut, a blizzard in Boston where the city closed down at 9 (thanks to the wonderful Brookline Booksmith who kept the store open and got a crowd to come!), a blizzard in Chicago where a drawbridge began to open as I was sliding across it, sub-zero temperatures in Cincinnati and Kansas City, and rain in LA!

I love touring, love meeting the booksellers and the readers and I deeply apologize to the woman in Kansas City who had to ask me a question three times and I still didn't get it.

And please, check out my tour at www.carolineleavitt.com. Come and meet me!