I’m back from the book tour, which brought me to three amazing independent bookstores: Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, MA (right near Boston, more city than suburb), UrbanThink in Orlando, and Books & Books, Coral Gables.

I’ve learned that at nearly every reading, there will be some kind of heckler during the Q&A portion, or at least someone whose mission is to challenge, ask oddball questions, or start discussion about a book — someone else’s. And every time, it provokes even more questions, even if only to divert from whatever topic the heckler wants to engage. I like those eccentric types a lot as things always get lively and/or humorous once they chime in.

In Boston, I saw friends I’d made at Emerson College, one or two of whom I hadn’t seen since then, and spent a day reworking the framework of the memoir I’m writing now. While I was traveling, it suddenly started to feel like a very different project — as though what I’d been working on was just a piece of the puzzle, not the entire puzzle. The inertia of travel does that to me it seems. So does the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, where I was a resident last summer, and spent a few more hours writing one afternoon. The current writer-in-residence, Justin Quarry, I found to be both an extremely kind, cool person, and also a talented writer — look for his upcoming story in TriQuarterly! I read it on the plane home from Miami. It is amazing; I’ll leave it at that…

UrbanThink is one of my favorite bookstores. Jim, the owner, is also a writer, and has great taste in books. The setup, sitting on a stool with a mic, was one of my favorites as it created a nice sense of intimacy with the audience. Or maybe that was just the result of most of them being the great folks I got to know last summer. Either way, it was a blast because of the good energy in the room. Different bookstores set different tones and moods. Orlando’s was definitely festive.

In Coral Gables, I met members of my family I hadn’t seen in years — and some I’d never met before at all! I wondered if anyone would show up to a Saturday evening reading during the summer, but thanks to them, as well as some nice people who weren’t related, there was a decent turnout. Three really cool girls who’d lived in Mexico. A guy from Colombia raised in Detroit. A middle-aged couple. A former English teacher who said she once went to a Saturday reading where she was the sole audience member. A few teenagers. Some people in the back who I think left halfway through.

For my last day, I moved into the Biltmore Hotel, which claims to have the largest swimming pool in the country and used to be a hospital for injured soldiers during World War II. My great-uncle, who still lives in the area, worked there. Went to South Beach, went swimming, flew home.

So overall, the tour was a lot of fun, and while it’s nice to sleep in my own bed, I only wished there were more stops! I am working on the West Coast, my official “home” in the States. We’ll see…