It's the end of the tour as we know it

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MariNaomi

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Jul 13, 2016, 3:33:14 PM7/13/16
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Hi there,

I'm almost done with my 12-city semi-international book tour for Turning Japanese, and it's been a wild ride. Midway through the tour, two days before I left for a solo Midwest road trip, I fell on my hands in a jogging accident, spraining my drawing hand and breaking a wrist bone in the other. But the show must go on (especially considering how much it costs to change up an airline ticket these days), and I made do, kissing people's books instead of signing them. All in all it was a successful, though difficult, trip.

Highlights include: 
~ Having a TSA lady tell me to take care of myself (what? compassion at the TSA??)
~ Selling out of my book in San Francisco and Chicago
~ Visiting the Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Memorial Library in Indianapolis (bucket list, check! His book Slapstick changed my life). It was tiny, but I learned a lot, including that, after finally hitting the bestseller list on his sixth published book, he only sold eight copies of his book at his hometown reading--all to family members. Poor guy. Afterwards, I drove out to spy on his childhood home, which is currently for sale, and took selfies in front of it, a tiny Kurt by my side. 
~ Staying with lovely friends in Harlem, Philly, Columbus, San Francisco and Minneapolis
~ My AC and GPS going out simultaneously at the beginning of a six-hour trip (with two broken hands! in 90-degree weather!). This was in the middle of nowhere, where I'd gone off track about four miles to get gas, down a windy road. I had no idea of Midwestern geography, nor any idea which direction I'd just come from, so I chose a random direction and hoped for the best. An hour later, I was able to pull up next to a McDonalds, siphon their wifi (Sorry, I can't spend money at a business that promotes factory farming, I just can't) and look at a map. Lucky for me I was going in the correct direction. But it could've gone either way!
~ Eating great food (bread on the east coast is phenomenal)
~ Eating crap food (stuck in a monsoon, I had chips and beer for dinner one evening)
~ Getting garlicked at what I thought was a safe restaurant (I'm allergic--luckily my throat didn't close up this time)
~ Visiting the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum in Columbus, spending time thinking about cartooning greats (and admiring their work), and getting a personal tour!
~ Sitting on the porch with my hero and friend, Rob Kirby, sipping rose wine. We chatted for awhile, and he put most of it into an interview on The Comics Journal.
~ I connected with so many wonderful people, which is what this is all about, right? Well, that's what kept me going during the darker moments. And those dark moments are gold--they're what will be used for stories down the line!

So now I'm back in my old hometown of San Francisco, staying with my BFF, spending time with her sweet old cat and dog. I did a reading at the library last night for Radar Productions, which went well. The other readers were great, there were cookies, and people laughed at my jokes, which is all I ever really want out of life. 

On Friday I'll be talking at CCA, which is a free event and open to the public. I'll be selling my books and prints there. It's a lovely space, and Gary's even joining me so that's exciting (I miss him when I tour!).

On the following week, I'll be on a panel at San Diego Comicon. I think the panel is about the history of women in comics, which fellow panelist Trina Robbins knows more about than anyone. I was thrilled to be asked, as other fellow panelist Mary Fleener made the comic that pretty much set me on the road to comicsing (her comic "The Jelly," which appeared in the Twisted Sisters Anthology, was what did it. Highly recommended). Hopefully I'll have intelligent things to say. Or maybe I'll just fan-girl out at her moonily. We'll see.

Then I'm done...until the fall.

In September, I've got my next book coming out with Retrofit Comics, titled I Thought You Hated Me. I'll be a special guest at the lovely San Francisco Zine Fest (which I designed a t-shirt for). Then I'll be at SPX in Maryland for one day, then on a Brooklyn Book Fest panel on the next day. After that, I plan on becoming a hermit and never leaving my drawing board again!

In other news, I made a comic about a chicken my mom used to have, a lovely girl named Daisy. BuzzFeed Reader was kind enough to pick it up. I've been talking about Daisy for years, telling this story again and again. Maybe making this comic will make me finally shut up about her. (She was such a sweetie!)

Also, my publisher 2dcloud is kind of struggling with their Kickstarter, which includes my book and some others. I've read the books by Gina Wynbrandt, Powerpaola and Will Dinski they're really really good! I'm in great company, is what I'm saying. If you love comics (or even if you just like them) and you want to help keep 2dcloud afloat, please consider backing their Kickstarter. I even put two of my favorite pages from Turning Japanese up there. Oh, and it looks like one of the pages has been claimed! Yay for that!

Okay, I'm going to stop typing now and take a BART ride across the Bay Bridge. The cartoonist Nicole J. Georges (read her graphic memoir Calling Dr. Laura) is having me on her podcast today and I'm feeling very honored. 

Anyway, I hope you're having a nice summer. Don't break any limbs, okay?

Love,
Mari

PS. You know, I intended this to be a really short email...


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