Sunday, July 20, 2014

Tour Schedule, Northern Loop

Drum roll, please!

After months of planning we have northern loop Road Show dates ready to share! So if you're in...

California!
Oregon!
Washington!
Idaho!
Montana!
North Dakota!
Minnesota!
Wisconsin!
Illinois!
Iowa!
Nebraska!
Wyoming!
 or Utah!

...check the roster for a stop near you!

I want you to know that we did everything we could to get to the places people requested (and some of those were definite sidetracks from logical routing, but in the tradition of this "Goodbye" for Sammy Keyes, that seemed more than appropriate).

On the roster you'll notice the Puyallup Book Festival. This Festival has two exciting days planned. 

The first one (Friday, 10/3) is billed as "An Evening of Teens, Books, and Rock 'n' Roll." Mark will be one of the featured YA authors, and it looks to be an awesome event with Santana drumming legend Michael Shrieve.

The second night (Saturday, 10/4) is the Goodbye Party for Sammy Keyes (aka Sammy-con!), and the plans for the night keep getting better and better! I will post about it separately, soon!


For now I'm going to leave you with our "War Room Map" which has been taped to the wall of our office since we started planning the first loop almost a year ago. (Green squares were the Southern Loop, orange is the upcoming Northern Loop.) I've really come to love this map. Our son pointed out that the roads look like arteries and veins and capillaries, and they give it the feel of being alive. Creepy, maybe, but I think it's cool.


Putting together this tour was tons of work, but now that we have our stops, dates, and finalized route, I'm excited for September, and especially excited to find out...who's coming to see us?

18 comments:

Optimistic4ever said...

Oh my god I can finally meet you again I really hope I'm free that day

Jessica said...

I can't believe I forgot to read last week's post! I got off on reading the blog on Sundays because of chaperoning a youth group mission trip. Now I'm super-excited to read "Howler" -- and I haven't even read Kiss Goodbye yet!

The northern loop kind of looks like an upside down high top. And the southern loop kind of looks like someone holding binoculars in front of their face.

I hope all the Sammiacs along the northern loop are able to come to an event. And I still think we should have an online version of SammyCon for those of us who can't come -- with live video-streaming of the event, vlogs from fans who actually can attend, etc. (I'd volunteer to help organize it, but I don't have the skills... I'm not even sure what I'm envisioning, but I'm thinking along the lines of things like live author Q&A chats/videos, "Comfy Con" for web comics, with video conference "panel discussions" where they answer previously submitted questions selected by a moderator (or even choose questions live from viewers)... maybe a real-time mini-Sammy mystery for participants to try to solve in teams...) Not something Wendelin can organize for us (she'll be too busy on the tour), but I bet we fans could organize it for ourselves, and maybe schedule a time for Wendelin to answer questions virtually (and sing the Sammy song for us since I forgot to ask when she came here). I guess we'd need Wendelin's (and maybe Random House's) approval for it... Anyone tech-savvy? Interested? Is this even something we should try to pursue, or is this a pipe dream of mine?

(And where does the phrase "pipe dream come from"?)

Amanda said...

I have been waiting for this announcement for so long!! Now I just have to figure out which Iowa stop works best for my schedule, since I will just have to take a day to come meet you (with drive times and all). I'm wondering if I can convince professors to let me out of class for this (as a library student, meeting a favorite author should absolutely count as an excused absence!). CAN'T WAIT!

Shaina said...

Yay!!! I'll see you in Puyallup! Unless I'm in labor :)

Gabrielle said...

I'm super bummed I can't go! I really wish I lives there right now! Sadly, I can't get a plane ticket. :(
But I hope whoever gets to go enjoys it!

Have a great week everyone!



Gabrielle

Ryan said...

I was looking at your list of stops and wow, that looks exhausting! Glad it's you and not me. =)

I'm a little bummed I can't be in Morro Bay for the grand start. I expect to be hiking the length of the West Highland Trail in Scotland during that time! If I didn't have that in works, I'd totally make a point of flying into SLO.

But--the Puyallup dates are still open on my calendar!

-- Ryan

Jo said...

Oh my goodness, so excited that these dates are out! Are these mostly scheduled for the evening?

(Trying to decide if I need to take a day off work for the Menlo Park event. ;D The San Jose one is actually closer to my work, but November seems so far away... hey, maybe I'll go to both!)

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Jo: Menlo Park and San Jose both start at 7 PM. And they're almost 2 months apart !

Ryan: Cement Puyallup on your calendar!

Gabrielle we will definitely miss you!

Amanda: Definitely counts as a legitimate field trip :-) And the IA gigs are all at night -- 7PM or 6:30PM

Shaina: Okay, that would be a legitimate excuse, but if you deliver at the Sammy party, you know what you're going to have to name that baby!!

Jessica: You need to go into marketing. You're awesome. And thanks for all the food for thought. (Uh, I think pipe dream is an expression that comes from the smoking of opiates? Like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland? So I don't think your ideas apply!)

O4E: You better be free that day!!

Everybody: Thanks for the comments!

Yusa said...

I am so excited my words cant be formed. So i'm gonna try to figure out a way to make my brothers take me to an event at the beginning and one at the end... hopefully the Davis one and the Eldorado Hills one. What time do those start??? So I can see the beginning and end! Figuring out a way to make thishappen. If not...I'm definitely going to be at at least one of the stops. You can count on seeing me there.

Unfortunately there's probably no way i'll make it to the Puyallup Book Festival but each stop will be it's own Goodbye Sammy party in a way since the whole tour is.

I also may end up pulling a Holly on whichever stop i see you at.... I hope you don't mind an extra traveling companion...

Can't wait until september!!!!!!!!

--Yusa

Kylie said...

I am so excited I can hopefully make some of these! I can't believe I didn't check this last night. But if I did I would have never been able to sleep over excitement. I have to find a dah that works with school. But honestly these are in the evenings and I have school in the morning except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have school until 4. But no school Fridays so I will definitely have to check the calendar to see what will be best. And maybe I will drag a friend or sister along with me.

I am really trying to not get my hopes up though because it always seems like I can go to these things and then last minute it all fall through.

And I heard you took care of the skunk. Glad it got to a new home safely and is no longer smelling up yours.

Kylie

Leah Lam said...

So excited for these!! My birthday present from my boyfriend is going to Sammy-con; now we are just trying to figure out how to get all the way there (I said we should sneak on to a Grey Hound, but he vetoed that) I can't wait to see you guys again!!!!

Optimistic4ever said...

All you California people, I hope you come to the San Jose one, because I plan to be there :)

Jessica said...

I just checked tickets again, and a flight is still more than a month's rent, and a train or bus is nearly as much and would take at least 2 days each way. At least you came here on the Southern Loop.

Leah, so exciting! What a nice boyfriend -- and smart, too -- Holly would tell you that is not a fun (or safe) way to travel.

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Yusa: Davis = 7:30 PM, El Dorado Hills = 6PM. You. Must. Come!

Kylie: You. Must. Come!

Leah: Awesome boyfriend!

O4E: Hicklebee's is a wonderful store--start time = 7PM

Jessica: You. Must. NOT. Come! (But thanks for checking, and know we will miss you!)

Emma said...

Yay, I'm so excited! I'm going to try to make it to the first stop in Morro Bay. Hopefully I'll have read Kiss Goodbye by then (I already have a copy preordered online; I'm hoping it will get to me before the 13th). I can't wait!

The Sammy-con sounds like so much fun! I wish I could go, but there's no way I'd be able to get there. I'm looking forward to September, though!

Kylie said...

I shall try! I am really hoping I will be able to. I have narrowed it down to either Chico or El Dorado Hills. Although I might have to go a little farther out. I haven't checked the dates yet, just to location so that's the next step.

And I forgot to wish you all a great week. So have a great week everyone!

Kylie

Yusa said...

Kylie: If you come to El Dorado we might meet!!!! That would be amazing acctually dude. Seriously. I want to meet at least one of the regular bloglettes because there arent that many of you who are very regular and those of you that are are amazing.

Im gonna try my best to make it to two of the events.

LEt's hope I get KG by those dates since who knows when they come in the library. I may be able to haggle it for a bday present since it comes out two days after my bday.

Can we pull a forest gump thing and just all join u at the stops until we are a big crowd of sammiacs following you around the country. Or no?

And finally the years of asking you to come to these cities and dedicately following and commenting on your blog pay off....

I'll see you there then (hopefully)

--Yusa

Unknown said...

I just resigned myself to the fact long ago that Florida will never be on that list.... esp a city so far down south as Miami.... Sigh.....