 Jai Joshi and Sonya at the Media Meet Hello all! I returned home to Dallas last week from my heartland tour and have spent the last few days baking cakes for mother's day and my sister's birthday too. I've only just got round to fully unloading the car, which is always a big headache but must be done. The weather's lovely, the sun is shining and the grass is green from the recent rain.
As I reflect on this last tour, I think of the interesting people that I met. I met a lady stormchaser in Hutchinson KS who told me what to do if I see a tornado while on the road. I met a couple in Nebraska who were photographers and gave me some tips on how to create wacky photos in the dark. I met a Catholic nun in Iowa who told me about her medical thriller novel. I met an ex-football player turned bookstore manager in Des Moines IA who was far and away the most helpful bookstore manager I met on this tour. I met a lovely fellow self published author named Heather Kizewski in Appleton WI who gave me a copy of her brilliant memoir Swimming with Wild Cats (available from amazon.com). I met a young man in Bartlesville KS who admitted he was a writer only after I forced him and said that he probably carried his manuscript around with him on a flash drive. He corrected me by saying that he carried his manuscript in a floppy disk. I met an ex-millitary lady in Nebraska who will be attending art school in the fall. These are just some of the extraordinary people I met in the heartland. The sights I saw were also incredible. For example, did you know that Kansas has a space center called Cosmosphere? It's in Hutchinson and it's huge. The Iowa State Capitol is the only state capitol I've ever been to where the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives were in session! I couldn't believe it. The politicians were actually in there, working. Amazing. No one can ever tell me now that I haven't had to deal with snow. North and South Dakota showed me plenty of snow and icy roads and frigid winds. Lovely. Visibility at Crazy Horse was virtually nothing by the time I got there but I still looked around the museum which was well worth the drive anyway so I wasn't too upset. That mountain is spectacular. The TV people showed up for my talk at the YWCA in Minot ND and I made the 6 o'clock news. Cool, huh? I also recorded a PBS tv program called "Media Meet" in Marquette MI which will be airing in the Great Lakes region on July 12th. I'll send you specific details about that closer to the time. I've attached some pics from the road. Enjoy. Jai |
