Hello Kentucky/Indiana

Oh, just pick a state, willya...

I greet you from a lovely bed and breakfast in Charlestown, Indiana. It's a charming mansion with many rooms decorated in a comfortable, Victorian-inspired style, a billiards and music room downstairs and lovely gardens, at least what I could see when I arrived after dark.

So far I approve.


The only downside of the room: No desk, and I neglected to charge the laptop, so I can't work at the nifty writing-desk in the hall. Therefore I have the laptop balanced on my knees in the Victorian contour chair so I can write this blog. The things I do for you people.

Today was supposed to be a leisurely drive to the Louisville, Ky. area to explore the area before the marketing symposium for writers at Karen's Book Barn, the store hosting me and many other authors this weekend. Of course, I got hit with about five errands to run "on my way out of town," no less than two minor crises, and got twenty minutes away from home before I realized I'd forgotten something important, so I had to double back and get it.

Despite booking it across three states, I missed the first part of the symposium, but it was still valuable info from Tony Acree of Hydra Publications and ... I didn't catch the other speaker's name, because I was late. I took notes anyway. I've been meaning to work on my marketing, since a friend told me the other day "I didn't know you did photography too" and apparently my marketing attempts thus far are FAIL. (Note: The long gaps between posts in this blog.)

According to the symposium, I need to work on my newsletter, because it turns out y'all don't buy books off Facebook much. Sign up, wouldja? Don't worry, I'm waaaaay too busy to spam you. You'll be lucky to get an email once a month.

Dinner was a lovely little place a few blocks from the bookstore called One Nineteen Main Street. Tasty! I had a hard time deciding between steak and gouda mac and cheese or the chicken avocado sandwich. I went with the latter, with sweet potato fries and a cinnamony-sweet dipping sauce, and did not regret it at all. They use board games as wall art, which is just nifty.

The bookstore is in La Grange, Ky., a charming little town outside Louisville. It is the only Main Street in America where full trains actually come down the middle of Main Street. This happened shortly after the symposium had ended while I was shopping (duh, I was unsupervised in a bookstore) and I gaped: train, right outside the store window! Couldn't be more than 15 feet from the door.

I am very tempted to go back tomorrow and see if I can get a good photo of the train coming down the street (not standing in front of it, I am adventurous but not suicidal). There's a couple of neat cemeteries, and a riverwalk festival in Louisville that looks promising. Tomorrow is exploration and photography, and maybe a little writing if I can find a good coffeehouse. I got a spectacular new idea while driving. Very creepy.

Then Saturday: the signing! Come to La Grange and meet more than 100 authors from all across the midwest and mid-south. I'll be there, but don't let that stop you.

In the meantime, I think I'm gonna see if this house is haunted. C'mon, what's the point of sleeping in a 100-year-old mansion if it isn't haunted?

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