Making a list and checking it twice…

I sound like the jolly old man in the red suit but I’m not talking about Christmas. I’m talking about preparations for my trip to Kansas for the debut of my novel, A Shadow in the Past, on September 15 – things to take, things to do before I leave. Most importantly passport and plane tickets, clothing (for the event and the rest of the weekend and sleepware), medications, glasses and cleaner for same, promotional stuff (business cards, postcards and bookmarks), pens to sign books, extra bag to bring books home in, followed by camera, iPad, iPad card reader, extra batteries and charger, mobile phone and charger for it. With the phone… must turn off a lot of e-mail notifications and remember to turn the beast off before I get on the plane or will get zapped with exorbitant roaming charges (maybe even go so far as to delete the Facebook and Twitter apps temporarily) to really ensure there’s not a lot of stuff happening. Phone on in the morning, then off until later in the evening. And the hotel has free wi-fi for guests so I could get along without the phone entirely since I can login to my webmail using my iPad when I’m there.

Then there’s my launch in Brockville the following Saturday which means charge my DVD recorder, format a DVD, get my book cover poster mounted, make sure my camera battery is in a fit state, decide what to wear because I don’t want to wear the same thing as I did in Kansas (I mean I can’t have people thinking I only have one outfit).

Oh, and then there is my fifteen day, twenty-one stop blog tour that starts on September 28. Have I sent my posts, author info, cover and author images, and where to buy links back to mine hosts and hostesses? I think so but must touch base with everyone to make sure. So I hope they understand my scattered-brainedness when I e-mail them AGAIN to ensure they have everything they need for my date with them.

I’m thrilled to be in this position and have dreamt about it for such a long time. My brain might be on overload right now but I’m loving every minute of it.