Change the World Tour: Day 3

Sorry, folks. Today is going to be awfully boring compared to yesterday. And tomorrow, actually. You see, we kind of hit a glitch on our first week. Originally, I was supposed to spend 2 full days in Virginia, travel on Wednesday, then spend Thursday and Friday in Georgia. But Virginia ended up having testing or something, so Tuesday didn't work out.

So I flew to Atlanta today and have nothing planned tomorrow. Which is fine by me because I have a lot of family here and will enjoy myself thoroughly. Plus, then I'm going to have the craziest 9 days of my life, with 6 booksignings and a couple dozen schools.

I love how today started in the airport. Angie and I are sitting there waiting to board, and the Delta Dude announces that all traffic has been grounded in Atlanta due to "severe weather." He followed this statement by saying "we hope to leave in 15 minutes."

Say huh? Let me get this straight. At this very second, the weather is so dangerous in Atlanta that no planes can land or take off. But oh well, I reckon it'll all be safe and sound in a few minutes. Needless to say, it didn't make me feel too excited to get on the plane, and Angie made fun of me ruthlessly. She has no compassion or tact whatsoever.

We took off, and it was pretty rough, but not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. For those of you keeping track at home, I listened to the complete albums of Van Halen 1984 and U2 Unforgettable Fire on my iPod. For some reason I wasn't in the mood to read. Then we landed without dying.

So now I'm in Atlanta. Angie went on home because I convinced my publisher to let me try to do it by myself in Atlanta and Phoenix. The more money we save, the more they'll have to spend on other marketing stuff.

I have to admit, it was VERY nice having Angie with me, so I kinda wish I hadn't agreed to this. We'll see how it goes. At least they made sure that someone at the bookstores will be there to help me during the signings.

My sister Sarah picked me up with her cute boy Isaac. He informed me several times on the way to my mom's house that I'm his best friend. By the way, in case you didn't know yet, I was born and raised in Georgia, and it's great to be home. I'm in hog heaven right now, sitting around with my sweet southern mama, my sisters Lisa and Sarah, my niece Rachel and her husband Minho.

Quick plug: Sarah is freaky good at photography. Check her out: CLICK HERE.

Not much else to report. I promise tomorrow to give a detailed account of the presentation I'm doing at the schools.

Oh, 2 quick cool things. I had a nice surprise today when I found out my publisher arranged an interview with the Atlanta Journal and Consitution, the biggest paper here. We did it over the phone and Patrick "The Dashner Dude Publicist Dude" Muir sent them some photos. I can't remember if I mentioned that the Salt Lake Tribune also is doing a story on me. Sweet! 2 major papers.

Also, my good friend and Farworld (coming soon) author J. Scott Savage told me he heard a really nice radio ad for The 13th Reality out in Utah. That's not too shabby.

Okay, sorry the picture thing in Virginia was a bust. The only one I got from Angie is up above, and you can barely see me. Maybe that's a good thing. But my sister Sarah has started a place on Flickr to download any and all photos associated with The 13th Reality. All of you awesome people who took pictures last night (I'm looking at you, Cat!), please check it out and share. Here's the link: CLICK HERE.

Well, thanks for checking in. Talk to ya tomorrow.