...but improved by the presence of Madness at *16 (that means it's tied for 15) on the online NYT Bestseller List. The paper itself is a week behind the online edition. I don't even know why I thought to look today, because I thought it wouldn't be up until next week. But there I was, 4 a.m. and barely awake, and there it was, looking all official and so forth, and I nearly fell out of my chair. Hell of a way to start the day!

Got home yesterday afternoon, fell face-first into bed, and snored till it was nearly dark. Spent the rest of the day in a haze of half-asleep-ness and disorientation, woke up this morning pretty sure I was in New York, and since then have established that I am a) in Minneapolis after all, and b) the "end of tour" is a little misleading. I'll have a lot of media to do for quite a while still, and will post dates and times asap. Will also take down the tour schedule and get everything updated. Feels a little like striking the set after a show, or packing up Christmas, but also feels pretty nice to be home, I have to say. The dogs are duly excited, and have more or less moved into my lap. Jeff seems not to mind too much that I'm here, either, and is being good about it. So I'm listening to a little Frank Sinatra and looking out at the grey day with sleepy eyes, wondering if it's ever going to be spring again. However--and I will keep you posted on this--there are pale green buds on the lilac tree outside my front door, and the single yellow tulip that lives in my garden is showing the tips of its leaves.

I want to thank all of you who were so wonderful to come out to readings and events, traveling from near and far. It was so wonderful to meet all of you in person. And this entire experience--meeting people, hearing stories, giving hugs, having pictures taken--has been completely inspiring. I'll do my damndest to write you a new book to enjoy. (Back to work on that next week!) Being immersed in the world of readers (i.e. the world outside my messy office--which, thank you very much, is now spotless, thanks to a mad cleaning this moring) was heavenly, and showed me once again exactly why I write.

Ok, so for the new blogging schedule: I'll post at least 2x/week from here until further notice. I'd post more, but people, it's just not that interesting here in my head. Keep those conversations alive on the board--and for you lurkers, get registered and join the conversation. It's about time somebody posted about a book or two again. What are people reading? Has anyone started The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)? I'm halfway through and loving it. I'll wrap that in a few days, then start in on Human Smoke: The Beginnings of War, the End of Civilization (Nicholson Baker) for another perspective on World War II, a subject my new book covers mid-way through. And I'm starving for some poetry. Suggestions? And since we did that Top Ten Songs (or was it artists? or albums?) a while back, somebody kick off a Top Ten Books. My #1 tie: Where the Wild Things Are and One Hundred Years of Solitude. Of course, by the time I post my list, those two will have changed...and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (David Foster Wallace) is up there as well...and The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)...but wait. No. #1 (and I mean this!): The White Album (Joan Didion). There. Somebody else take up the list.

Thirteen Things: A Weekly Tour Blog

1. Longest sixteen hours ever spent in a depressing hotel room: 2pm-8am, in L.A. on a Sunday, in a room with bare plaster walls, a bed with ugly bedspread, and (worst) a desk that was so high I had to put pillows on the chair to reach, resulting in the annoying thing where my feet don't touch the ground.
2. Most killer publication party ever thrown: Here in Mpls, thrown by my wonderful Mom & Pops--you really should have seen my shoes...
3. Shortest two days I wished were actually two weeks in a fabulous hotel room with three separate things on which to fall asleep: Fri-Sat in the fabulous Heathman Hotel in Portland, where I wrapped up tour with a FANTASTIC reading audience--but audience aside, the naps were really nice...
4. Wildest interpersonal event: having an awesome coffee with my mom's first husband, who is really exceptionally cool, and a former political reporter who's covered everything from the entire mayhem of 1968 to the 90s Desert Storm (from the Middle East), and whose stories I am DYING to record...
5-13 (sorry, I'm really, really tired). Best parts about tour: Meeting you.

Peace, and more this week.
M