Not every author I know loves touring, but for me it’s a joy. I love to talk books! In fact I love to talk period, and the nicer the audience, the happier I am. Well! My feet haven’t touched the ground since I returned from Miami yesterday, where I was invited to kick off their first event of the year for Sisterhood of Temple Beth Am.

Sisterhood President, Nanci Hellinger, her co-chair Ellen Genet, their board and programming committee did an amazing job getting the word out and creating excitement, but things got a little dicey an hour before when the skies opened up and down came the torrential rain along with Florida’s famous lightening and thunder show.  Oh crap, we all thought. Nothing like heavy rain to make people stay home.

But not these ladies. Oh no… they showed up in force. All 150 of them and they came ready for a fun night out.  They dined on a sumptuous  looking  dinner prepared by their caterer and board member, Sarah Davidoff. They also got to sample the heavenly looking Sistertini cocktail, which was pink and pretty and going fast at every table. I was offered one (every five minutes) and would love to have imbibed, but it’s not the best idea to have your dinner speaker passed out on the floor. On the other hand, I knew they more they drank, the funnier I’d be.

Sure enough, the program went off without a hitch and I must say, they were a fabulous audience. They laughed, they listened, they asked great questions, they bought books and mostly they let me know how much they enjoyed my stories and my sense of humor. Oh fine, it was a lovefest and I’d return in a heartbeat.

I met so many nice people, but it was wonderful to finally meet two people who have been in my corner for years. Etta Gold is the Temple librarian and she has been a fan from the beginning. Because of her support, when the group was looking for an author to speak, she urged them to get in touch. Thank you Etta, and your daughter Ronni, for your generous praise and best wishes.

I was also delighted to meet and have lunch with Lisa Payton, a woman who contacted me six years ago, before her twin daughters b’nai mitzvah. Back then, she had e-mailed me with a request to send a message offering them a Jewish author’s perspective on becoming a woman and apparently liked my reply so much, they read it to their guests during the service.  Since then, we have become e-mail pals. I’m so glad we finally got to put the name with the face, plus, how is this for irony? One of her daughters is now at the same college as mine… the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Another great moment was getting to read an excerpt from my new work-in-progress called Beat It! It got such a great reaction, I soared back to the hotel. No writer ever really knows how readers will respond to their novels, so testing the waters is a tricky task (say that three times fast). But once I heard the loud applause and so many asked about the publication date, what a huge boost!

If you belong to a club, organization, school or business that invites speakers, I would love to hear from you.  Aside from writing, there is nothing I like better than talking about books, the writer’s life and every day life. Life is not  a sit com, but it is sure better with a laugh track!