I had a busy few days this week starting with an appearance at the Ocean Park Writers Conference in Old Orchard Beach where I was invited to talk about using "Setting as a Character" in The Poacher's Son. It's been years since I taught a workshop, but I think I managed to shake off the rust (or maybe I just had a very forgiving audience).
The next day I spoke at the newly renovated Portland Public Library as part of its noontime Brown Bag Lecture series.
And then last night I enjoyed a great dinner and great company as the host of a fundraising dinner to benefit Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance at the Salt Exchange in Portland's Old Port.
The idea of the author tour, in which a writer travels around giving readings and signing books, might seem like a glamorous activity to the uninitiated, but marketing yourself in service of a new novel can be an exhausting process.
Occasionally, you get a spectacular meal out of it, though. I recommend the lobster with Swiss chard, leeks, and red wine lobster sauce at the Salt Exchange. Also the octopus.