Tales from the Lone Star State

During the past month, I’ve not only been working feverishly on the revisions to the second YA book, but I was traveling to some extent every week for the past five weeks to promo my first book, A Firefighter in the Family. I’m going to work my way backwards, sharing photos when I can. (Unfortunately, I left my camera in Texas last week, and I’m waiting for it to be mailed back to me.)

I left for Texas on Oct. 10. After picking up the rental car and plugging in the iPod to listen to several episodes of PotterCast, I hit the road. As usual drove to Texarkana and stayed in the hotel I always stay in there. It’s clean, safe, has comfy beds and good Internet access — all musts in my book. I was able to sleep in a bit the next morning then drive the rest of the way to Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, where I was taking part in the Buns & Roses Reader Tea. First up, however, was a group book signing at Borders where fellow Nashvillian Sherrilyn Kenyon was the main attraction. The girl has humongous lines of adoring fans, and after all she’s gone through to achieve that success, I say more power to her. (I say the same about J.K. Rowling.)

On Sunday was the reader tea, where I met several nice ladies who sat at my table and some authors I’d not met before — including the lovely Sharie Kohler, my tablemate at the book signing that afternoon for tea attendees, and Kim Lenox, who sent me this wonderful picture of Sharie and me.

Toward the end of the event, I heard from two attendees who’d driven up from San Antonio that I-35 from Dallas to Waco was closed. Eek! That’s how I would normally go to San Antonio, where I was headed next. So when I reached my car, I pulled out the atlas and plotted a new, circuitous route which added a good chunk of time to my trip that night. I didn’t reach my friend Mary’s house until midnight. Needless to say, she, her husband, her son, and I all slept in the next morning.

That afternoon, we drove to the lovely little historic town of Gruene (pronounced Green) on the Guadalupe River. We ate at The Gristmill, a restaurant in a big, old gristmill overlooking the river. (I’d been hearing the praises of The Gristmill ever since my friend Michelle lived in Austin several years ago.) Then we poked around the cute shops to find a gift for the customer service manager at the Barnes & Noble that was hosting a book signing for Mary and myself the next night. That night, we watched The Happening, an odd movie though it had an interesting concept.

The next morning, it was off to Guenther House for breakfast, a MUST every time I go to San Antonio. They have the best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever put in my mouth. Yum! Then I was a good girl and worked on my revisions while Mary (who writes as M.J. Fredrick) worked on her own writing. That afternoon, I made from-scratch pizza before we all went off to Barnes & Noble for the book signing. We had a wonderful turnout of people who know Mary — co-workers past and present, fellow writers, etc. Here’s a picture Mary’s husband took of us before the signing started.

On Wednesday, Mary had to go back to work, so I made good use of the time to knock out some more revisions. That night, I spoke about setting at her local RWA chapter (San Antonio Romance Authors) meeting. I met lots of lovely ladies at the meeting, and it was nice to put faces with names I’ve heard for a long time. On the way back to the house, we stopped for frozen custard then booked it back to watch the presidential debate.

I was up before dawn the next morning to say goodbye to Mary before she went to work, and I headed out when it was barely daylight. Deciding I wanted to avoid the tons of construction all up and down I-35, I decided to drive through the Hill Country, a lovely part of Texas. Along the way, I stopped at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. I’d visited before, but that was prior to me purchasing my National Parks Passport in which I stamp every park I’ve visited. So I stamped my passport and hit the road again. From the Hill Country, I scooted across some northern counties that border Oklahoma until I got back to my familiar hotel in Texarkana for a night of rest before covering Arkansas and half of Tennessee the next day to get home.

This entry was posted at 10:04 pm | Print This Post
TAGS: A Firefighter in the Family, Gruene, Guenther House, Kim Lenox, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, MJ Fredrick, Sharie Kohler, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Texas Hill Country