I am writing this from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Gate F-14.
Remember that scene in 24 when Chole was in the hotel bar trying to upload the data to Jack's PDA, and that dude kept bugging her, and she finally had to hit him with her stun gun?
Yeah. I really wish I had one of those right now.
Anyway, there have been TORNADOES sighted in the area, so my flight is delayed indefinitely. I don't actually mind my flights being delayed if they are delayed for a good reason, such as a weather disaster or earthquake. This just gives me more time to work on my manga, which, as you can see, I am doing.
Speaking of earthquakes, I can't believe I missed most of 10.5: Apocalypse, the sequel to the mega-made-for-television-disaster-movie event, 10.5. I only caught the last five minutes, when—SPOILER–the continental US split in two. I would have liked to see more stuff fall in the ocean, but maybe that happened in the first half.
Additionally, I missed the season finales of The O.C. (but I already know what happened, thanks to the rampant media coverage of the event), and HOUSE (do NOT tell me what happened with Cuddy).
I did end up catching the last hour and a half of 24, so I know all about what's going on with Jean Smart and Chloe. And all I have to say is phew (I am trying to care what happens to Jack. Really).
In book tour related news, I had a fab signing at the ever terrific Anderson's in Naperville (or should I say TWO signings, since I had one at 5:30 for the teens, and one at 7 for older readers, ostensibly because I was going to say dirty words at the adult signing, which I think I might have told my publicist a few months ago that I was going to do, but I'm pretty sure I was kidding. Sort of. I did say “ass” about ten times, but only because I read from the first page and a half of QUEEN OF BABBLE).
Even though it is only 38 miles from downtown Chicago, where my hotel was, to Naperville, it took TWO HOURS to drive to Anderson's, what with the rush hour traffic.
So Art, my media escort, and I got to listen to the first two discs of John Dunning's SIGN OF THE BOOK on CD. It ruled. When I got to Anderson's, they said I could have any book in the store that I wanted, for FREE (a fantastic perk of being a published author. Of course I feel guilty not paying, but the wonderful staff at Anderson's wouldn't take my money! And okay, maybe I didn't try that hard to give them some, but they put the book in a gift bag with a sweet card on it. What was I supposed to do?)
So of course I chose SIGN OF THE BOOK, so I could see how it ended. Because I am tired of not knowing how stories end!!!
Then today I had a fun signing at the State Street Borders in downtown Chicago, where I got to improvise another speech about QUEEN OF BABBLE, throw in some stuff about SWEET SIXTEEN PRINCESS, and say “ass” ten more times. YES!!!!
I don't want to rub it in to those of you who don't get to say the word “ass” at work, but being an author RULES. Plus meeting readers (and seeing old friends), and hanging out with fun bookstore employees—including the awesome folks at the State Street Borders, ALMOST makes up for the fact that my flight to Cincinnati just got delayed another hour! More tornadoes.
With luck one will hit the terminal and it will be like I'm IN a made-for-TV disaster movie. That would be so AWESOME.
And if you're reading this, then obviously I survived…because this terminal has no Internet café or wi-fi.
That's it for now…it's manga time, people. See you Thursday night in Dayton, Ohio at
7 p.m.
Books & Co.
350 E. Stroop Road
Dayton, OH 45429
More later.
Much love,
Meg
PS After sitting in the airport for four hours and on the tarmac for two, I FINALLY made it. I am having smoked almonds from the minibar for dinner though because room service was closed by the time I checked in to my hotel (past midnight). We did fly OVER a tornado, though. I'm pretty sure. We must have, because it was so bumpy I couldn't read and I STILL don't know how SIGN OF THE BOOK ends!
