From Nora -- added on
Wednesday, March 28, 2001 @ 7:30 P.M. |
Katie
|
Katie2
My pal Bill picked me up and off we go to
Chicago. Really pleasant drive with time to catch
up with what's been happening in his life and mine.
Took less than 90 minutes for him to drop me at my
hotel so I could dump my bags.
Back down and across the street to a stock
signing. I'm pretty sure we did one other
stock--how quickly they forget when the mind is
fried--and onto the downtown Waldens for the formal
signing at noon. Got there about quarter of, and
since I had to be out by 1:30 and there was already
a crowd, I got right down to work. Really nicely
organized--reminded me a bit of TTP as it's a
smaller space with a bunch of regulars.
Went through the three pens I'd brought with me.
Those gel pens use a lot of ink, but they're worth
it with the ease on the hand.
Dashed out, headed to the radio gig. Fun stuff.
It's a live deal in a studio framed by windows so
people pass by, wave. Good interviewer, with time
for a couple of call-ins.
I tried not to look too mournfully at all the
fabulous downtown shopping as we headed out for
three more stock signings. With Bill as vanguard,
all the stores were prepared and had the books
pulled. Signed a ton, and it's really gratifying to
see stores carrying my backlist so deep.
Back to the hotel. I'm about to have a quick
bite--and a glass of champagne to celebrate the
news that The Villa will debut on the
Times list at number two. And Betrayal In
Death stays on for week three at number six.
Really good news to perk me up after a long day.
Out to Skokie tonight for a formal--then to San
Francisco!
Weather's been pretty good here today, but I'm
looking forward to hitting maybe 70 on the Coast.
Nora
From Katie
Well, it started out great: I made my train. I
ended up riding down with a guy my brother Brian
had gone to grammar school with, so we caught each
other up on our respective lives (get you minds out
of the gutter, girls, he's younger than me). No
problems getting downtown and to the store as I'd
been there before.
I get into the store and it's not that busy so I
look around and notice it's "buy 4 romances, get
5th free," but since I skipped breakfast to make
the train, I am most hungry. Head down the block to
the McDonald's and scarf down a cheeseburger, fries
and OJ so I can get back and meet up with Kim.
I walk back in the door, asked if I'm there for
the signing, say yes, and am handed a copy of
The Villa. Luckily, I had planned on buying
for one of the fundraisers I'm contributing to. Kim
sees me and gets me in line, and since we're still
waiting, I decide on going to buy my book and a few
others. Well guess what, their computer system is
down and they have to call in for authorization
codes for the gift cards I'm using. So I'm waiting
for all this to happen and I hear the woman at the
register next to me saying that she's from Roswell,
New Mexico. She's just talking to the clerk and I'm
wishing my clerk would be having an easier time
with this as I can see she's just as frustrated by
this as I am.
Well, while I'm waiting I happen to turn around
and see that Nora's walked in and even got past the
watchdog passing out copies of The Villa. So
I heard her ask if she should sign stock as she had
to leave by 1:30 P.M., and they said that they
would just start the signing. Well, by this time my
transaction was for the most part completely
screwed up, so they just took my gift cards and
gave me the 43 cents that was left and gave me two
of the "nora roberts is j.d. robb" buttons.
WOOHOO!! <G> So I give the extra button to
Kim and hold the place in line as she goes to pay.
Well, as soon as she leaves, the line starts
moving, so I catch her and get her back in line.
Well, the woman who was from Roswell was the person
in front of us, and I heard her tell Nora that she
was in town for a conference and had seen in the
paper that Nora was doing a signing, so she cut out
on some of the sessions, and that the signing just
made her trip.
After we get our books signed and I give Nora
her present, I asked her if she had gotten my
e-mail about the sale and flower show at Marshall
Fields. She said she did, but she didn't think
she'd have time for it as she had a radio thing at
2 P.M. and that was all she knew, but to ask Bill
for the specifics. Bill is her usual driver in
Chicago, and it seems that almost every book
signing I've been to lately, in Chicago, he's the
author's escort, so we know each other <G>.
Kim and I then did our Noraholic duty and educated
others about Nora's various books, the websites,
and other favorite authors. We then checked out
Fields ourselves and had a great time relaxing
before heading to our respective homes to get ready
for tonight, and in fact I need to leave right now,
so I'll report later about the signing tonight and
the radio show from this afternoon!!!
Katie
Kate, again
Hello again. The Skokie signing was wonderfully
organized and came with a Q&A session. This was
a treat after I had cruised the parking lot for 10
minutes to get a space. Met up with Kim and we got
our seats. We then just looked around the store as
it was only about 6:30 pm by that time and the even
didn't start for another hour.
While we're waiting, I try to get Kim to agree
to a $10 bet that someone is going to ask about
Seth's book. She, unfortunately, does not agree to
it <G>. So the event finally starts with the
manager introducing Nora, with one of the figures
being that Nora has 35 million books in print. Well
on the radio show today, I heard something with 27
million. Nora comes out and thanks the manager for
the lovely introduction, however, one of her
figures was wrong. She has 127 million books in
print: "I spit on 35 million." So Nora starts to
take questions, and guess what the very first one
was. I'm sorry, but after that comment I had made
to Kim, I couldn't help giggling in my seat. Of
course as we're seated directly in Nora's line of
view, she sees me and I hear "Shut up, Katie." But
she did say that she might start on his story in
the next year or so, maybe.
The questions progress and one woman asked if we
would ever see Eve confront her father. Nora's
response: "Eve Dallas' father is dead. She killed
him." She did the thumbs up/down response to the
pregnant Eve question. She got asked the favorite
character question where she talked about
Midnight Bayou.
One person asked about if she had a specific
place where she liked to write. She said how when
she started she needed something portable, so she
used pen and paper and then got a typewriter in the
kitchen, "the center of the universe," and moved on
to a small closet, "and then I married a
carpenter."
Fashion report, she had on a cream mock, a dark
purple wool blazer, black pants and shoes, a drop
pearl necklace, silver bracelets and rings, and
from a distance, looked like a thunderbird pin, but
turned out to be an art deco jeweled pin. The radio
show was a treat to listen to this afternoon and if
I had known she was going to be in the booth on
Pioneer Square, I would have gone and taken
pictures!! Dean Richards, the host, did say that he
had been getting e-mails from Noraholics all week
after announcing that they would have Nora on. And
as I don't listen to this station on a regular
basis, it wasn't me!!! So thank you for coming back
to Chicago, Nora, and I hope you can come again
next year!!
Katie
Nora's The Villa Tour
2001 