Pittsburgh!

I had the best day in Pittsburgh. The day started early at a great local school and then I got to see old friends from Camp Sunshine who I haven't seen in 4 years. Diana came with her sons Mishan and Nathaniel. They showed me all around town and I have to say - Pittsburgh is a cool city. It was so great to reconnect with these old friends that I've known since '96! In fact, when I first wrote Slug, I brought it up to camp to read to the kids. So I read Slug to Mishan and Nathaniel 9 years ago when they were 4 and 7 and I read Slug to them today when they were 13 and 16! It was awesome. Except this time around, they were taller than me!

That really is the coolest, most unexpected part of my career. I'm able to reconnect with so many great, old friends. It's a rare thing to be able to do and I love it! It's very appropriate that my Slug tour would take me through Pittsburgh. I had a great reading and signing in the evening at Joseph-Beth books. It's hard to tell how evening book signings will go sometimes, especially in a city where I've never had an event before. And just before the event - I thought it might just be me and my friends. But a good amount of people came out! I was very pleasantly surprised. And speaking of surprises - as I was reading, my friends Paul Raj and Amber turned up. I didn't even know that they lived in Pittsburgh, let alone a few blocks from the store!

Well, I should probably get some sleep, as I need to leave the hotel at 4 AM tomorrow to catch my flight to Milwaukee! Yikes, I know! But I am so excited - tomorrow I will read Punk Farm and say "Thank you, Wisconsin" and mean it!