Road Trip Blues and Oranges
So my recent book tour for Fated had some minor disappointments, but those were more than offset by the highlights of the trip. And since the opposite of blue on the color wheel is orange, I thought that would make for a clever title.
Yes, it’s a stretch, but it’s the best I could come up with on short notice.
“That’s very clever.”
“Thank you.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“What?”
“Being clever?”
(Bonus points if you can name the film that dialogue is from).
All right, where the hell was I? Oh yeah…
My road trip down through southern California included signings in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. It also included the revelation that many brick and mortar bookstores are an endangered lot, as I ran across no less than a dozen Borders and Barnes & Nobles along the way that were either closing or had already closed.
Not that I had signings scheduled at all of these stores but whenever I’m traveling, I make a point to hit as many local bookstores as possible to sign stock copy and pimp myself out. Hey, someone’s gotta do it.
While the bookstore closings were a rather distressing reality to witness first hand, I still enjoyed my signings at Barnes & Noble (Santa Barbara), Dark Delicacies (Burbank), Borders (Costa Mesa), and Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego). Unfortunately the Barnes & Noble in downtown Santa Barbara is closing because their landlord jacked up the rates, so it’s going to be replaced by a clothing store. Like we need more of those.
And while being on the road can often be a bit of a grind, especially when you’re driving from San Francisco to Los Angele to San Diego and logging 1500 miles over 10 days, the grind is offset by the people you get to spend time with while you’re traveling.
One of the benefits of being a writer that I hadn’t included in my initial list of reasons to embark on this path (long hours spent alone, frequent rejections and criticisms, people telling you how they always wanted to be a writer) was the opportunity to see friends that I otherwise wouldn’t get to see.
Much like my trip through the Pacific Northwest in November, my trip through southern California afforded me the chance to visit with numerous friends I’ve known since college and new friends I’ve made over the past few years at conventions and conferences. There’s nothing like a home cooked meal with good conversation to make the road a less lonely place.
More than anything, it’s the company of friends that makes traveling and road trips so worthwhile. So I’m looking forward to the next one.
