I did not get pneumonia or frost bite, but I was worried there for a while

The Tucson Festival of Books was this weekend and we had a wonderful time.

Mostly.

Except for when we were freezing to death and wet and our feet hurt and we were hungry and lonely because our Sister abandoned us for a warm, dry seminar.

The night before we all went out to dinner and had a fabulous time with old friends and introduced a few more the the Amy & Ava Show. That’s really something you need to be prepared for. I’ll tell you one thing that was interesting – this time Ava led the show. I will say it was fun to set back and feed her lines  and be the straight man for a change.

Later that night, I destroyed my closet looking for things to wear since I’d be signing books and participating on a workshop panel about Comedy in Romance. I couldn’t get Ava on the phone so I pestered my friend Theresa. We finally managed to come up with something Theresa thought would be warm enough for me and still be cute and comfortable – jeans, a burgundy tank and a cardigan.

What I should have been dressing for was survival. It was so cold and miserable – I can’t imagine a worse setting for trying to sell books. Every time I got someone in front of me, I was trying to sell them on me and my book through chattering teeth. 90% of the time we were cowering in a huddle for warmth with our books under plastic sheeting. At one point, some Festival support guys came around with chips and water and I asked them if they had any fire wood in their wheelbarrow. We had plenty of water dripping on us from the tent seams. What we didn’t have was warmth.

Still – Sunday was gorgeous. Ava petted every single dog at the Festival – and there were plenty. Some puppies even got kisses on the nose. One guy actually admitted that he was concerned she might try to steal his dog.

Anything was possible.

In the spirit of writing and absurdity – let me share the Google doodle from this weekend. Happy Birthday Douglas Adams – we’ll not panic.