I really enjoyed my little book-signing tour in New Orleans last weekend. The city looks much better than it did when I was there the spring after Katrina (at least in the areas I went to). The FEMA trailers that were in every other yard it seemed are now gone, the abandoned cars under the bridges have been hauled off, and many buildings and houses have been repaired. The traffic is still horrible, though I find New Orleans drivers more polite and less risk-taking than New York drivers.

I enjoyed meeting people and telling them about the Jim Limber story. I sold books to people from Atlanta, Scotland, Ohio, New Jersey, various parts of Texas, Alabama and other Southern states. As always when I do signings, I learned some things about how to best promote my book business. I know many authors don’t like this part of the business, but I happen to love it. The fact is, you won’t sell books unless stores order them, and unless you’re like nationally famous, the stores won’t order them unless they have a reason to promote it. Thus, signings are very important.

I love to people watch in New Orleans. I probably got a dozen story ideas while I was there. Enough for now. Writing work to do.  We’re already halfway through 2007, and I’ve got to make the remaining months really count. I’m presently working on getting a week’s worth of work together for Houston, Atlanta, and for Orlando.