Guest Post: Kristy Woodsen Harvey

Please join me in welcoming Kristy Woodson Harvey to Always With a Book. Kristy’s debut book, Dear Carolina, is now out and she’s been busy promoting it. You can read my review of the book here. 

Today, is Kristy talking about her blog tour.

Hi, Always With a Book readers! I’m so excited to get to be here with all of you today. Thank you so much, Kristin for having me. I was so honored to have Kristin review my debut novel, Dear Carolina, on May 5 when it launched, and was so excited that she enjoyed the book! The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, so I thought I’d share a bit about my book tour with you today!

Book. Tour. Those were two words I used to dream of, words that I was afraid I’d never get to experience in real life. I had longed for the day that I would get to sign copies of my books and chat with readers and hear their feelings about Dear Carolina. I wanted to hear about their favorite authors, if they’d read my book what they thought about it, what their lives were like…

But, as the actual time approached for the first leg of this Dear Carolina tour, I started to get a little nervous. Fourteen days. My mom. My three-year-old. My husband and dad joining us on the weekends. Fourteen days hadn’t seemed that long in theory. But, once it got closer, all I could think was, Who drags a three-year-old boy from city to city for that long and expects him to behave? Am I insane?

But, now that I’m heading back home today, I think it’s safe to say that we did make it through fourteen days and at least as many cities and certainly more hours than that in the car with little incident. He was on his absolute best behavior, and I think he enjoyed himself – and all the attention he got from all those ladies!

Every event was different. Some were packed to the brim, some were attended by smaller groups. I spoke at some, signed at some, read at some. But, at every, single one, I can confidently say that I made new friends, met “online” friends in person, had a blast and was generally blown away by people’s kindness and generosity and willingness to share their time with my book and me. For a writer who has dreamed of going on book tours for years, I don’t think there could be a better feeling!

So now, we’re moving into the a-couple-of-events-a-week zone, where things become generally less complicated. But I’m planning another leg of the tour that will include Tennessee, Alabama and some parts of NC along the way. And, as I’m mapping out the hours in the car, whether we should fly or try to make it a road trip so we can visit new bookstores along the way, it’s rolling around in my head again: Am I insane?

But, I figure if Khaki, one of the main characters in Dear Carolina can travel around with her three kids, surely I can do it with my one! (We won’t mention that she’s fictional…) Good or bad, crazy or not, I keep reminding myself that we’re making memories, visiting new places and having new experiences. And, at the end of the day, that’s what this journey is all about!

Thank you again for having me, Kristin! It’s such a pleasure, and I hope to visit with your readers again soon!

Thank you Kristy for writing this…it’s always fun hearing about the author’s experience on book tours! And readers, if you haven’t picked up this gem, what are you waiting for???