On the Tuesday following my book launch, Ray and I hit the road with Duncan and Brie to begin my tour through Georgia and Alabama.  I have to admit that I normally only leave my beloved island to go to the "big" city of Gainesville, so confronting all the traffic heading into Atlanta only convinced me more that there's a lot to be said for a small island that doesn't even require one traffic light.

The trip and the tour all went very well though.  I met the nicest people and really enjoyed chatting with all of them about my book, knitting, Cedar Key and reading.  On Tuesday evening I was at the Barnes & Noble in Norcross, Georgia.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find an entire window display dedicated to Spinning Forward!

Due to the support of Carla Wilson, CRM of that Barnes & Noble and the creativity of Elyse Anderson, owner of the local yarn shop, Only Ewe And Cotton Too, they put together this wonderful window display.  I had to pinch myself to make sure it was all for my book.  And if that hadn't excited me enough, I couldn't believe it when I walked in to find over fifty women from the Noble Knitters knitting group assembled and waiting for ME. 

What a great group of women they were!  And expert and talented knitters!  I had so much fun walking around getting to know them and seeing what each one was working on.  I did a reading from SPINNING FORWARD and then we had a Q&A.  They asked some great questions which was followed by a book signing.  A special thank you to Zina and Yana, mother and daughter from Russia, for giving me a great suggestion for my book #2 title in my Cedar Key series.

It was an incredibly memorable evening and one I'll never forget.  This Barnes & Noble and this group of women were my "first" for the Spinning Forward book tour.  And there's something about a "first" that always remains special.  Thank you so much to each and every one of you!  And also for your invitation to return there for more book events. 

I did a lot of drive-by signings at various Barnes & Nobles, Books A Million and Borders in the area.  This involved going in and signing the books they had in stock.  I'm still new enough at this that I was totally amazed each and every store had copies of Spinning Forward.  I can't even explain how this made me feel, except to say once again......with hard work and determination, dreams really DO come true!

And on Thursday it was off to Birmingham, Alabama where I did more drive-by signings before heading up to Huntsville, Alabama.  We were booked at the Holiday Inn there and it was a nice surprise to find out that for some reason they had upgraded us to an executive suite......yeah, okay, so briefly I did feel a bit "special."  It was nice to have a spacious room to relax and I think Duncan and Brie enjoyed it too.

They were excellent on the entire trip and I think they quickly adjusted to being book tour doggies....although Brie grabbed a nap whenever she could.

Thursday night I was at Yarn Expressions in Huntsville.  Again, I was greeted by a wonderful group of women knitting away. 

Friday evening I was at Barnes & Noble in Huntsville and warmly greeted by Kim, the CRM at that store.  A huge thank you to her for hosting me and for a very successful signing.

And one of the highlights was getting to meet Michelle.........Michelle and I had first "met" on Facebook.  She lives just outside Huntsville and came to B&N that night with her husband and two sons.  She was delightful and I really enjoyed getting to meet her in person and chat with her.

So my first book tour was a lot of fun and very successful.  I'm deeply grateful to all my new readers and appreciate all of their support.

I had a few days off for Thanksgiving.....so join me here next time and I'll share that with you.

But today, Wednesday December 2, I'm down in the Sarasota/Venice area of Florida doing more book events.  I'll be at The Knitting Place both today and tomorrow, so do check out the website with all the info and if you're in the area, please come by and say hello!

See you here next time...............