So I had a kick-ass reading at Queen Anne Books the other day. I was nervous, of course, beforehand, like I was always am. This time will be the time I forget how to speak, and I flee the stage in shame, my literary career in ruins. As usual, nothing of the sort happened. If anything, I was looser than usual, throwing in personal anecdotes and jokes that I hadn’t before. The Q&A was particularly lively at this one. Perhaps the “mocktails” so graciously served by the events coordinator Tegan got everyone in a relaxed mood.

A good crowd turned out, with a fun mix of coworkers, friends (some of them coming to their second reading — thank you, some I hadn’t seen in forever), ex boyfriends, current boyfriends, writer friends, and complete strangers. Here is an action shot taken by the talented GalPal #2. I know the shirt I’m wearing looks suspiciously like the one in the last book-reading photo I posted. It is. (It also belongs to GalPal #2 and I’m glad she hasn’t asked for it back since I wear it to every reading.)

Here are a few questions I’m guaranteed to get at almost any reading, and this one was no exception:

-Does Loser know about the book? Have you heard from him?
Yes, I’m sure he does. No I have not, though I expect a call from his lawyers at any second.

-What’s your next book going to be?
BreakupBabe: The Nursing Home Years.

My favorite question from this week’s reading:
-Did you really climb Mt. Everest?

Next on the docket is Village Books in Bellingham, I gig I got thanks to fiction-writer-extraordinaire Laura Kalpakian, who lives in Bellingham, and has set a few of her atmospheric novels on a San-Juan-type island called “Isadora.”

Meanwhile, now that I’m flying sans publicist, I’m trying to figure out just how much time, energy, and money to put into promoting this baby. I’m slowly setting up more reading dates in the northwest and gearing up to go east too.

Finally, I recently did an interview for an article for the Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye section, which appeared, oddly, in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. This article is not really about me, they just called me to have some quotes from an expert breaker-upper.

Finally – my book has reached four-star status on Amazon! It’s been a long, hard road getting there after a couple poisonous reviews dropped it down to something awful like 2.5 stars. My Amazon ranking ain’t so hot, but whatever!

In other news, I recently got a nice little shout-out on Mike Gauthier’s blog. Mike is the head climbing ranger at Mt. Rainier, a good friend, and also an author. His book is the definitive climbing guide to Rainier, and it has FIVE stars on Amazon.

Mike is an old hand at the celebrity thing, and gave me some good advice when I first went on TV, which was to not be afraid to be outrageous or risque. So when I went on TV the next day, and they asked me “Why is it so hard to date in Seattle?,” I said “Because people wear too many clothes!” I thought it was pretty funny but no one in the studio laughed. The production asssitant who ushered me out, however, said it cracked her up. So at least I wasn’t a total failure with my little standup routine.

I still have a couple more appearances lined up in the Seattle area, and am lining up ever more! I will also be on Northwest Afternoon on August 24, with a whole seven minutes devoted to me and my melodramatic tale of breakups, blogging, and bestselling writerdom. So be sure to watch me and Kent Phillips yukking it up. You can also catch up on the soaps with Cindi Rinehart!