My Tor publicist had scheduled me for a noontime TV interview on “Living Dayton,” so we rebooked my Tuesday morning flight from Atlanta on a much earlier (groan!) flight, so I could get into Dayton in time.

Then, as mentioned in my previous blog, I came down with terrible laryngitis Monday morning and could barely talk all day Monday, so I had to cancel the TV interview (TV interviews don’t work too well when the interviewee can’t *talk*!)  But the flight was booked, so I was stuck heading out Way Too Early anyway.  Then in Monday afternoon in Atlanta, Dr Amy reassured me that the treatment she gave me would really work and my voice would be back before long.  So we rescheduled the interview again, and hoped.

Though I only had four hours sleep before I went to the airport, my voice was in halfway decent shape.  I landed in Dayton, drove the rental car to the hotel (where we had arranged for me to check in early, at 10:30 AM), and I unpacked a little, changed clothes, then headed off to the TV station.  There were some people with dogs, a fitness expert, the organizer of a health walk, a storyteller for a kids’ story hour, and then me. The host was a huge Star Wars fan, so he chatted a lot about that, I talked about HELLHOLE AWAKENING, plugged that evening’s book signing at Books & Co., and promised there would be 501sters.

I grabbed a delicious Smashburger for lunch (and ordered it with a whole-grain bun, so it must have been healthy), then stopped at an adjacent Barnes & Noble to get a Starbucks, and also to spy on their book placement.  I was pleased to see THREE of my books on the same shelf of new releases—HELLHOLE AWAKENING, UNNATURAL ACTS, and even a snazzy reissue of ENEMIES & ALLIES (which I didn’t know anything about).

I took a shower in the afternoon, had to down some Tylenol Cold (which made me groggy), made some edits in THE DARK BETWEEN THE STARS, then headed off for the evening signing. I had dinner with my friend Lisa, then we went to the bookstore, where people were gathering, Wookiees and stormtroopers were suiting up alongside a Jedi and a Mandalorian.  The Ohio garrison of the 501st comes out to support me whenever I’m in Dayton or Cincinnati (they even threw a birthday celebration for me a few years ago when my signing took place on my birthday).  We had a great crowd, plenty of Star Wars fans, Dune fans, Rush fans, Dan Shamble fans, and of course a lot of HELLHOLE readers.

By the end of the night, though, my voice was nearly shot, and I had to whisper into the microphone to finish my speech.  Back to the hotel for an adequate night’s sleep for a change, and now I’m halfway home (in the O’hare Airport in Chicago).  Rebecca will pick me up from the Colorado Springs airport, we’ll grab dinner, then spend the rest of the evening doing laundry, petting cats, and repacking for the next trip.

Tomorrow, we both head off to Richmond, VA, where we’re guests of honor at RavenCon.  Hope to see some of you there!