Book tour has been great: exhilarting and interesting, but tiring as hell. I hate hearing authors complain about book tour, so that's not my intention, but I do want to share a bit of what it's been like.

Dorkiest moment: dousing a woman and a row of coffee table books with water in Miami. I clumsily set the book down on a (flimsy) tripod after reading a passage, it collapsed, whacked the bottle of water and sent it flying. Whoops. I felt horrible, but the woman was so gracious and went to get paper towels and cleaned it up so I could continue. Thank you wet woman.

Busiest morning: Last Monday in NYC. I did the satelitte radio tour from my hotel room. I think it was 18 interviews almost back to back over a six hour period--7 a.m. to 1 p.m.--followed immediately by a one-hour on an NPR station, meaning no breaks, except musical interludes. 

The last one was scheduled to end at 1:59, and I was supposed to be outside the hotel lobby at 2:00 p.m. for a car to take me to JFK to get to Chicago to do Oprah. I got little ten-minute breaks now and then between some of the interviews, and one 20-minute break to shower, shave and wolf down lunch.

I didn't quite make it. They called while I had shaving cream still on my face, about 2/3 of  it scraped off. They usually gave me a minute or two on the phone before we hit the air, so I asked if I could have 60 seconds. she said barely. I ran back to the bathroom, stroked the rest off without cutting myself, rinsed and grabbed the tube of moisturizer. (My cheeks stay tight and annoyed all day if I don't put something on right after.) I got back just in time, with my hair sticking up and my face wet, and dabbed the cream on and rubbed it in while I answered the first question.

Room service has always seemed like a ridiculous luxury that I don't think I've ever indulged in. It was a necessity this trip. I would call down an order during breaks, but that meant it arrived while I was on air, either live or live to tape. I'd prop the door open so that they could sneak in quietly and I signed the check while answering. Otherwise, I would not have eaten. 

The most hectic single interview was Ron Reagan, for Air America. It was supposed to air live Monday night, but when a conflict emerged, they were nice enough to move it to the afternoon for us and do live to tape. But I had to do BBC America in a local TV studio, and could not get home in time. So I did the interview with Ron by cell phone, in traffic. I got home midway and had to get upstairs to change for another interview while that one was in-progress, so I went inside, but the stairwell was incredibly echoy. I figured that sounded bad, so I ran up the two flights while talking, and then found myself panting through the next few answers. I just kept going like it was all normal. He didn't mention it. He was really bright, BTW. He asked great questions.

About two minutes after his interview ended, the fire alarm started blaring. My neighbors came out, but we smelled no smoke. I ran downstairs to check, and the hallway down there was a big fog. I started feeling doors for head, like I learned on TV. No heat, but I knocked, too, and a dazed guy opened up and the apartment was belching the stuff. It looked like he had laid something plastic on the stove and fallen asleep with it on. It smelled like burning tires.

Odd. 

It wasn't that intense all month, but pretty close. They let me rest the night before Oprah, though. Smart.

We cancelled DC and Philly to do Oprah, so I missed a cool train ride. Easy trade.

I didn't actually get to Miami for the Miami event, though Coral Gables was nice. I saw I-95. I did not see the ocean, though I hear it's quite nice.

I saw myself on Rachel Maddow this Monday and didn't cringe, so I guess I'm getting used to seeing and hearing myself. But I did gasp at how tired I looked. Several friends commented on it, too. I knew I felt like that inside, but didn't know it show. My face was sagging like I didn't have the energy to hold my cheeks up.

Hahaha. BTW, I am not fishing for compliments. Please don't say I look fine, or I'll feel guilty for bringing it up. I'm fine with  it, just taken aback.

The relentless days of 15-20 interviews a day and more are over, though. Today I had just five, and it felt great. I went for a walk and actually went to the gym again. I'm halfway through a load of laundry, so I can put on clean sox and underwear tomorrow. I ran the dishwasher. This living room, though: Man, stuff is piled everywhere. The very unglamorous part. Hahaha.

I'm also officially bored with myself. If I have to hear my self tell those same stories one more time, I might barf--not at the questions, at my answers.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the interviewers, though. I always hear how bad they are. I have found most of them really intelligent. I spent an hour or more on the phone with several of the print reporters, and some of them really helped me understand a few things better, and crystalize some of my own thoughts.

I have really only had one bad interview: a radio woman who kept getting major facts wrong, and conflating different things, which I had to correct on-air.

I've learned things about my work from some of the reviews, too. It helps to see how things look from the outsided.  There are smart people out there reviewing books.

Taping Oprah was amazing. She was wonderful, and great to my family. (Seven of my siblings, both my parents and one neice got to come.) I hope she airs the show, but whatever happens, I had an incredible experience. The timing was wonderful, too, because I met my family at a restaurant for about 40 minutes afterwards before I had to rush to O'Hare to get to Miami. I got unexpectedly choked up raising a toast to sharing it with them. Then my publicist rushed in with news. He said he'd never gotten a chance to give an author this news in front of his/her family, but the book was going to debut at #7 on the New York Times list. 

I live a thousand miles away from most of my family. What were the odds that inews would come in the 40 minutes I spent with them this year? They told me they were proud of me. I don't have words to describe that feeling.

And I got a lot of hugs. I might have mentioned a few times being in a hug deficit around here. Hahaha. I got my share.

Working with the Harpo team leading up to the show was great, too. That is one professional outfit. Very bright people, and really nice, too. I worked closely with a producer named Veronica who has a bright future ahead of her. Thanks, V. 

The book store events are a nice change of pace. It's great to connect with a live audience, and see what people have to say.

The funnest part has been meeting OS bloggers at almost every stop. Thanks, you guys. Sheldon showed up in Colorado Springs last night, which was a pleasant surprise.The highlight was Miam, meeting The Dave Cullen Quartet. Hahaha. I'm still chuckling over that. How fun. I wish I could have gone out and drunk with you ladies all night.

(Cartouche has all sorts of pix from the Miami event, and a recap at the DC Quartet link.)

Boulder was also quite wonderful--kind of a homecoming. Mary T Kelly was there from OS, and Monica from my Brokeback forum, and lots of friends from grad school. And the two living profs who taught me the most in grad school, Reg Saner and Peter Michelson, both came. (They are also wonderful writers, BTW.) 

I was writing fiction then (mid 1990s) and Peter was the one who encouraged me to try nonfiction again, which led me back to journalism, eventually. Reg taught me Creative Nonfiction, and had a huge impact.

Something else surpring happened on book tour. I ask the audience some questions during my live events, and last week between NYC on Monday and Miami on Thursday, the number of people in the audience who knew all the answers had surged. Lots of people had read the book. That surprised me. Pleasantly. But I have to change my talk. Hahaha.

It's really nice to get a mix of people hearing much of the stuff for the first time, and others who have read it and give me their take on it. I've been writing for years and years, but never had this kind of interaction with my audience before.  

Monday it was also refreshing to take a few hours off and visit the Columbine Memorial, for the commemoration ceremony. That made me feel a lot better. I still need to write a post about it when I have a bit of time.

Tomorrow I get to go to the gym again, and ride my bike. And wear clean clothes.

Friday I head to LA for the west coast leg of the book tour. I'm really looking foward to the LA Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus, which I've heard is amazing. How cool just to go, as a reader. And I'm doing three different events there. 

Then Seattle, San Francisco and I'm home again to rest for a few days. Then a 4-day UK tour in early May, probably just Dublin and London.

Full info on book tour events here. (With upcoming events toward the bottom, in white.)

I think I'm going to be ready for it to be done. But it's been a hell of a ride.

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FYI, for those unfamiliar, the 2.5-minute "Columbine" book trailer is probably your best bet for a quick  overview of the book. And two good friends are updating my website with podcasts of many of my TV and radio interviews.

If you've read the book, my Columbine Guide makes a nice companion. It's got the killers journals, pix and videos they made, resources for survivors, etc.