I spent the weekend in Washington DC, attending the National Book Festival, a very fine event that celebrates books and authors and readers. This was the second time I've been to the NBF, and the last time I was there it was raining. The weather didn't deter the enthusiastic participants that year, and neither did th heat this time around. It was sunny and bright ... and HOT .. particularly inside the tents where crowds of people gathered to hear speakers.

200,000 people!  All talking about books.

My new book, SON, is not offiically released until October 2nd but the publisher had allowed it to be sold at the festival, so I signed many, many copies, and talked about it publically for the first time: good practice for the upcoming tour which will take me to 14 cities.

It always takes a little while to figure out just how much story to give away (one doesn't want people to go away thinking, "Oh, now I don't have to read it; she told me the whole plot); what passages I can read without having to explain the context at great length; and to get a feel for what kinds of questions people will ask.  So the weekend was a good start and is now a nice memory (counteracting the very startling and sad ending to last night Patriots game).

And tomorrow night I have tickets to a Red Sox game, and it has NOT been an exciting season to be a Sox fan.

I flipped the TV back and forth a few times last night and was able to see the Emmy awards handed out deservedly to HOMELAND, which I think is the best thing I have seen on television ever.