The new book tour is very different, the new book tour is sometimes the same. On a normal book tour, I will travel to as many as a dozen bookstores, doing talks, readings and signings. In the area where I love, bookstores are not disappearing, they are increasing in number. Last night I went to Saratoga Springs to do a reading at Northshire Book’s sparkling new store there. Saratoga Springs is a rarity, a booming upstate New York City, increasingly populated by wealthy refugees from New York City and its suburbs. It is a hot restaurant town, a condo town, a racetrack and tourist town.

We had another full house, about 55 people, a good reading, good questions, the feeling of a conversation. Joan, a long-time fan and reader of my blog and Maria’s, showed up and was wearing gloves knitted from Tess’s wool (the ewe who died last week) and Maria was very happy to see that.

There was a long book line, a rarity in the age of the Kindle. Many people came from the blog, some were new to me, they wanted to hear the story of Frieda. It is a very personal book, but I don’t usually talk about the personal stuff at readings,  and people don’t generally ask me about it, everybody wants to hear about Frieda and it is a good story to tell. Maria sits quietly in the back, listening, sketching, thinking. She is making a Frieda potholder to give away to one of the people who are ordering books from Battenkill Books.

Battenkill ran out of books today, another huge shipment is arriving Friday from Random House. The store has sold more than 600 copies of “Second Chance Dog,” we are heading for a thousand. I hope to keep it going. You can order the book from Battenkill’s website, or you can call the store at 518 677-2515. The orders keep coming in, we will hit a thousand, Maria and I will sign every one of thej.

I am entering the next phase of the book tour, daily topics on the book, give-aways of photos, books, potholders, real time review threads on Facebook and then, podcasts and videos. I am not sure how far I can push this book on the blog. It is being discovered as a good Plaid Friday purchase, as a good Christmas present, so I am going in that direction. Sometimes at night I wonder if I’m not just plain mad, abandoning the warm embrace of my publisher, letting them send me around the country to waiting bookstores and readers.

But I believe in this new book tour, it is the future, I wish to remain relevant as a writer. In Saratoga, I explained that my blog had become my new book, my living memoir, and I believe it will help me talk about my book and sell it. This seems already to be happening, but it is early in the game, competition is ferocious, people’s attention spans short. I do feel a bit alone sometimes, on my own, it is what I wanted, but clearly, there is no place to hide.

Saratoga was just about my last physical stop on the book tour, the last real remnant of the other tours. Red was absolutely stellar at Northshire, he greeted just about everyone, lay down and slept while I talked. Some people brought their dogs, and that always makes me a bit uncomfortable, it is distracting, but Red handled it beautifully, I am so glad I didn’t try and bring Frieda.

I will be in Chester Vermont on November 24 as part of the Vermont Writer’s Series, organized by the Misty Valley Book Tour and at the Chatham Public Library in January. That’s it for the old way. My new book tour is beginning to draw some attention, not all of it happy. A couple of writers have e-mailed me, puzzled and troubled by this new direction, but that is both understandable and to be expected. I’m don’t exactly live in the bosom of the literary establishment, I think I am just one of those outside-the-tent people.

It is good to see readers and look in their eyes and meet them face to face. I miss that part of the book tour, it is was always wonderful to do. But I am not wallowing in the past, I know what I need to do, I love what I need to do. I have the chance to step out and meet the future, to embrace it and come out the other side, and so far, I have a wonderful community taking the trip with me. How exciting. Thank you, all of you. Much more to come, we are just getting started. Next goals are to sell 1,000 books at Battenkill, then to trigger a third printing. That would be pretty awesome for me and my blog.