Has it really been three months since my first post?

Since opening “Not A Blog” back in July, I have been spending half my time on the road. We took off in late July for Ireland, followed by the worldcon in Glasgow, then several additional weeks of travel through the UK. I saw my British editors in Glasgow and again in London, had meetings with several artists that I’m working with or hope to work with, and stood in front of castles to get a more up-to-date jacket photograph. And somewhere in there I had a wonderful lunch with some of my fellow toy soldier collectors, enjoyed the marvelous hospitality of Peter and Gilly Greenhill and saw the Courtenay Molds (sacred to every knights guy), and partied with the wild men and hot babes of the Brotherhood Without Banners, Europe. So it wasn’t all business.

By the time I got home, the usual mountain of mail and email awaited me, and no sooner had I dug my way out than it was time to take off again, this time for the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. I got a great crowd at my speech, and it was a real kick (albeit somewhat intimidating)to follow John Irving, Neil Gaiman, and Tom Wolfe (all writers whose work I’ve admired)on the stage. Thanks to all those who turned up. Those who couldn’t make it can find a webcast of my speech at the festival by following the link on my News page.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing since my last entry… some of the time, at least. (I have also been doing lots of tedious post production work on FEAST and several other projects, checking cover copy and correcting the maps and signing signature pages and going over the galleys and all sorts of other boring stuff). And on Friday I’m off again, headed back to England for my British book tour, and then the Lucca Game and Comics Show in Italy. After that my US book tour will be looming. So I probably won’t be posting here again until after Thanksgiving. (If then).

I warned you that I was no good at this blogging stuff.

Anyway, I do hope I’ll be seeing many of you in England or Italy or wherever. If I have a slightly glazed look on my face and don’t seem to know what country I’m in, forgive me. It has been a long year, and I’m tired.

Oh, one thing before I run… I have gotten a lot of emails asking about my “policies” at signings. Truth is, I have only one policy. I will sign old books as well as the new one, and I will sign as many books as you bring… but only three at a time. If you bring more, I will still sign them all, but after the first three you need to go back to the end of the line to give others a chance.

That’s not to say there won’t be other limitations. The bookshops where I am appearing may have policies of their own. Some require tickets, some will only allow me to sign books purchased at the store, some permit photographs and some do not. Their call, not mine. So if you are thinking of going to one of the events and would like to know what rules and restrictions will be in effect, you want to call the bookstore and ask.

See you there.

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