But thanks so much for hanging with me nonetheless. I hope everyone has a great summer!

BIG HUG and Much Love, Leslie

PS: Stay in the Light!

Where do I begin? Let’s start with Chi-Town, home of the Steppers, “The Windy City,” with its Magnificent Mile. LOVE IT! Lissa Woodson (sister author of “Every Woman Needs a Wife”) and her “Road Dolls” (Mari and Deb) — with special shout to to Sesvalah, Miss Gretta, and Tehuti (who know why they mean so much to me, too!) — these folks rolled out the hospitality and treated me to Chicago style chicken and waffles, much love, and a SERIOUS Come Out and Play Party… wine and chocolates with folks who DROVE as far as from DC to be at the packed event. Four hundred some people converged on the South Shore Cultural Center, but not before we’d toured Ebony/Jet, (Lissa’s son Jeremy – a budding, brilliant author in his own right, also came along and they LOVED him, smile), and experienced the wonderful hospitality offered by Marti Parham, Senior Editor. Shout out—Roshida, (NYC Street Team), I met your cousin, Clarence, who works there—small world!

Then the next day, Street Team — Chicago/Detroit Operations took over the helm, barnstorming me to Oak Park, Hyde Park, River Oaks, Matteson—you name it ( think we did 10 stops in all)… stores downtown (Michigan Ave, State Street) then all the way out to Borders in the suburbs with a stop at Aziza Books. Both teams finally met up at the Grand Lux for dinner and kicked back, maaaan… that was awesome. (In between there I got the flu, but we were rolling so hard—like homeboy said in the movie, Predator, “I ain’t got time to bleed.” LOL!)

Flu be damned, we keep rolling the next day and didn’t miss a beat… hung out with wonderfully crazy sister author Dyanne Davis on her cable access show… Me, Dyanne, Barbara Keaton (another sister author), Alicia Thomas, and Candace Link with her hilarious husband Tim—who we’ve drafted as honorary Street Team (cut up!), plus a member of RWA’s Windy City Chapter, Jan, and Dyanne’s wonderfully mellow husband, Bill (the man is a saint, ha ha ha—the patience of Job, who put up with us all)… chile we LAUGHED like hyenas up in that studio—because everyone was misbehaving.

Then I had to catch a flight with NO TIME to spare… can I just take a minute to tell you that Tim is a driving fool—do you hear me? I just kept my focus on breathing nice and slow while he broke land-speed records and just as calm and cool as you please got me from Bolingbrook to O’Hare National Airport in a little under 35min. Those of you from Chicago understand why I needed oxygen when I got out of the car—that’s supposed to be an hour commute in light traffic, okaaay, LOL. But the man can handle a vehicle.

I had less than 24 hours turnaround before I headed to NYC that Monday to tape a quickie segment at BET—which was wonderful. The segment that aired was short, but the time I spent there was invaluable and people I met up there were fabulous… BIG Hug to Imani Dawson (Producer.) Rachel Ekstrom, my publicist from St. Martin’s Press came too; Imani and the guys in the studio and I had an hour of great conversation and time to just ‘kick it.”

After a great power lunch with Manie Barron, it was time to jump a train and come home… that’s when I found out how really sick my poor dog, Girlfriend, was… and you all know how that ended. Still healing from that loss, so is my daughter.

But, prayer and faith heals all things… and thanks to Greg DeSheilds, Senior Director of The Temple University School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, I was invited with my homegirl, Tina Wise, to his table as a guest to attend a fabulous gala Friday night (2/27/09) hosted as a fundraiser for The African American Museum in Philadelphia — where Donovan McNabb (Eagles QB) and Dwight Evan (long time political powerhouse in Philly) were honored. I saw a lot of old friends from the economic development community there and got a chance to get out and just enjoy myself while supporting a good cause. THANK YOU for that, Greg! the timing was divinely ordered.

A visit to the ATL was next, (a 7:30AM flight, good Gawd!), and as always, the folks down South have a special brand of hospitality all their own that warms the soul. My first stop there was Parkview High School… and let me just say that the teachers and students were awesome! I bow to Ms. Rochelle, as the students call her… she was the catalyst for their group, the one who gave them the reading bug and helped work with the other educators (Ms. Alicia, the Assistant Principal, Librarians, a host of wonderful people committed to education—and forgive me if I forgot anyone), who all gave up their Saturday morning to provide “an environment” of openness. THANK YOU all for the fabulous scented candle and personalized gift bag–that was too sweet and so unexpected!

Yoti was the enthusiastic teen who wrote me and got me there—thank you, babygirl (and Yasmin was my tour guide, smile—thank you, too, boo)… and a BIG HUG and many prayers go out to Tanisha… a great young lady who was hurt badly by a stray bullet the night before. She was so upset that she couldn’t be at the gathering, but I spoke to that brave young lady on the telephone, and will say again, “Baby, we’re just all glad you are here! Rest, recover, and we’ll be sending you love, Light, and stuff in the mail, okay?”

As a mother, I cannot even imagine what her Momma went through and is going through… so send prayers to Tanisha in Georgia, folks. May that child continue to be blessed—no kid should have to endure that! This is what I mean by “you never know” and we cannot take life for granted. So, down in the ATL, I experienced yet another sobering moment… and was deeply, profoundly humbled by the young people I met. I expect big things from all of them—they were all winners, every last one, Ashe!

My next stop was to an old favorite, a place I must go every time out… The Shrine of the Black Madonna. Sister Ewa, as always, rolled out the red carpet… she put a cake on the table baked to perfection by a friend—iced with a chocolate Sankofa bird on yellow cake and vanilla icing… Lawdy B, make you slap yo’ Momma, ha ha ha… coffee and conversation, laughs till we shook our heads… Jackie 777 and her hubby Chris, always there with Carlotta & her Momma, and a host of new folks (one lady, God bless her, drove 4 hours!) Much love, I bow to you, Namaste, for the love and Light shared there up in The Shrine! I even got on the radio with the good sisters at Written Magazine, Michelle & Tina, BIG HUG… plus met their Momma – and hung out with Philly native and producer, Leslie Greene… the ATL is awesome.

Now I’m back home for a minute, smile, looking at this snow… missing my dog, but loving the “slow down” for a couple of days… this is good writing weather—perhaps why I’ve waxed on so long today. But before Monique Patterson (my editor) comes looking for me, I’d better use this snow day to get her werewolf book done, LOL. I don’t want to make that sister bear fangs, ha ha ha!

Up next… I’ll be at Temple University, Paley Library—weather notwithstanding (unless they close the school—I’ll be riding what my Mom used to call, “the iron horse,” riding the rails otherwise known as The Broad Street Subway–the only way to travel when it’s bad out in the city)… but I can’t stand Temple up; that’s my alma mater… then I’ll head to DC and Baltimore, with a little break before I head to Harlem NYC for The Hueman Experience, Brooklyn to the National Black Writer’s Conference (Medgar Evers College), No. Jersey (Ramsey), Houston, then the Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention in Orlando with a hard swing back to The Philadelphia High School for Girl’s annual luncheon as the keynote at my high school alma mater before The 8th Annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention in Philly. (Whew, the schedule is making me dizzy just talking about it!)

All I can say is, this is a whirlwind travel year, and I haven’t even gotten to the summer and the West Coast stuff yet in this blog mention—so check the website “appearances” tab often, as new dates are constantly being added and updated.

Meanwhile, I’ll be in the writer’s cave: Translation = I am going off the grid, off radar, going black, going dark, UNDERGROUND hard, LOL! For real!

Therefore, forgive me if I’m tardy getting back to emails, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace—I can’t even do LinkedIn or Tagged—I swore that I would not add another “social networking community” to my list of “to dos” and “to checks” Nope. (Don’t even ask me to, LOL, “La la la la la I can’t hear you!”) I’m topped out… it’s bad enough that I can’t accept “pokes” and “hugs” and “causes” on Facebook, because it takes too freakin’ long to get the software to load and to figure out how to accept a “heart” or an “angel,” but thanks for the lovely sentiments—a sister is just social networking overwhelmed, LOL… you feel me—smile.

I’ve finally learned that there’s only so many hours in a day and I’m reaching that threshold where I can’t even personally respond to things like I used to while also touring and also writing… something’s gotta give, LOL… and y’all don’t want it to be the books. So, I’m chucking the emails—BIG SMILE! Hope I catch you on the road for a real Big Philly Hug!

Much love & THANK YOU for all the powerful, fantastic support,
Leslie!

Stay in the Light!

PS: Don Lafferty is putting up pics on Facebook from “the road” BIG SMILE! I admit that I’m still learning how to do video, pics, tagging stuff, and whatnot, Glory B!