Okay, time for another book tour. This time for my first children’s book, “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm.”
The schedule isn’t complete, but here is where I am going so far. I’ll put the list up on the website, when we get the “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” page up.
Friday, April 29: Framingham, Mass. Barnes and Noble. 7 p.m.
Monday, May 2: Cincinnati, Ohio: Joseph-Beth Booksellers. 6 p.m.
Friday, May 6: Portland, Oregon, Powell’s Bookstore. 7 p.m.
Monday or Tuesday, May 9 or 10: Seattle, Third Place Books. 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 21: Clinton, N.J. Clinton Book Shop. 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Tuesday, May 24 – Wednesday, May 25. New York City.
Holt is also scheduled appearances in Manchester, Vt. (Northshire Books) and several other cities. But this is where we are so far. It looks like a great book tour. We will also be scheduling some library appearances, possibly around Portland or Seattle.
It was in meditation that I first glimpsed my own mind, and saw more clearly how it had worked all of my life. I saw that I was the hamster on a wheel, running and running, fear to anger, anger to fear, impulse to impulse. It was a shock to me. I didn’t like what I was seeing, but I loved the fact that I was finally seeing it. Once I saw it, I knew that I could possibly deal with it. People (people like me) thought of meditation and things like massage to be the province of indulgent woo-woos and diddlers. I was too busy freaking out. Now I see these things as basic health care. It is better than the other kind. I’m even making vegetable juice mixes every day.
People often tell me or write me that it is easy for me to talk about these things, because I am a rich New York Times bestselling author. I am established, thus things are easier for me than they are for many other people. They say this to Maria sometimes now, also. We just smile when we hear this. Nobody will ever know. Nobody needs to know.
I am very lucky, very blessed, but I have learned in life that nobody’s life is easy, not bus drivers, soldiers, artists, writers, Hollywood stars. Not even gurus.
Our choices are much more about what to do with our fears, shortcomings and longings rather than about not having any. I have changed my life. And I have changed the people in my life.
I rarely hear what I want to hear, but I work to hear what I need to hear. And that is a big change.
When I meditate now, I still see the hamster on the wheel. He is wiser, more thoughtful, more open. He is slowing down a bit. Fear and anger are symptoms to him, warnings, not the shapers of life. We make our own way. We are responsible for ourselves. I never envy anyone else’s life, not even the people on magazine covers. I am just working on my wheel. I want to write about this more this week.
My agent e-mailed me yesterday and she said she enjoyed the videos, but cautioned me to slow down. She didn’t want to see me all over the Internet. She reminded me of the serious videos we are planning for the book on animal grieving. I bristled a bit – didn’t she know how hard I was working on these? And then I gave thanks for her. How wonderful that she would take the trouble to make sure the hamster didn’t fly off the wheel. With people like that around, it might be all right.
And I’m taking a few days off of videos. My lessons start next week. I mean to be relevant. But not taken over. I see that people like them. But I want to focus for a bit on creating the quieter, simpler images of my life. The hamster runs, but he learns.
P.S. Speaking at the Woodstock Book and Writer’s Festival, Friday, April 8, Woodstock, N.Y.
