Travel the states wind down

Back home again and it has been a whirlwind week. We started our travels to the Book Roast Blog (and I think that the "owners" of that blog are in different states so I really can't say where we started). We saw about 200 visitors on a Saturday, which according to Chris E. they hadn't done a roast on Saturday before so for being the first one, to me that's a big success. The comments left were great, as we learned about a few of the states and who knows, some of that trivia may show up in the book about that state.

Sunday we took a break. Monday we went to Montana and visited with Rena. She was such a delight with her questions. Being a homeschool mom, I think Rena's site see lots of visitors too. Speaking of which, the winner from her blog has not contacted me and I will need to pick another winner.

Tuesday saw us in New York with Donna McDine and an article about what inspired me to write the series. Since it was also inauguration day and most folks weren't visiting blogs because they were watching history unfold before their very eyes, many thinking they would never see the day when an African-American would be President, but it happened. The festivities of the day made it difficult to concentrate on the everyday things, like work. Since Donna had so few commenters, we waited until Wednesday to do her drawing.

Wednesday brought us to South Carolina not far from home with a visit on Katie Hines' blog. The interview was good and we had a blast. As Katie's blog is still new and she's feeling her way in blogger land, the visitors were probably not as many as we could hope for but I think overall it was a great day.

Thursday, well what can I say. We went to Texas to visit with Holly and she saw 110 page loads, with 56 visitors and 47 of those being first time visitors. Only 9 of us were return visitors. All in all a good visit and a good day.

Friday we traveled up to the cold northwest and visited with Suzy (Susan Marlow) who looks like a kid. I've seen pictures of this woman and she looks very young but she has grandchildren, so I know she isn't a kid. Suzy did a wonderful review of State of Wilderness. Not sure how many visitors she had but with her also being in the homeschool field, I can imagine many stopped by and read but didn't comment.

Saturday we went to Utah and visited with Mr. Hughes. It was a weird day. I knew he was in class but wasn't sure how long he'd be gone during the day and I knew I would be gone for the morning and part of the afternoon for a live book signing. When I returned about 5 pm (Eastern time), there had been no comments left the whole day other than the one I left before leaving to let the readers know I would return and get back to them as soon as I did. A few trickled in and when Mr. Hughes returned he posted a comment and called his sister to get on there and post (as she had told him she would). Since I had so few comments on his blog, I decided to make each of the posters a winner. I was tired and didn't really have anyone to pick numbers for me, so I said - all of them would be winners.

As stated, we also had a live book signing on Saturday. I think even though there was only one sale, the signing was a success in that I had two teachers or retired teachers and a mother whose son's teacher has been looking for things to supplement the after school program come to the tables and show some interest and a chance to get in the schools. The retired teacher has seven grandchildren and took my postcard and said she would definitely contact me with an order. She just didn't have any money at the time. Katie joined me for the book signing and it made the time go by quicker. After packing up, we went to lunch and had a great time. Her husband, Bill, thought of some ways to make my board (which I put together Friday night at like 1 AM) better and stand out. So he's going to create me another board that can be used to try to attract more visitors and hopefully gain more sales. So another good thing which will benefit me in the long run.

Today will be a quiet day due to the fact that I have over 100 jobs waiting for me and I will be concentrating on getting them out as much as possible today. I will stop by throughout the day to comment back to my posters but don't panic if I don't show up immediately. I will be here.


If you'd like to see the postings that occurred around the states this week, scroll down to the posting - Travel the States posting that has the schedule. Everyone is linked and all the posts are still available for viewing. Come on out and leave your comments and I'll still do a drawing from my blog tonight. So leave a message and who knows, you may be the winner on this last day of the Travel the States virtual book tour.

Remember to preview your posting so you can mark the email when new comments are made box so that you will receive notiication of the winner and everyone who comments.

If you have already won a prize on another stop this week, you will not be eligible for today's drawing but your comments are welcome. See you all in the postings - E :)