I realized this on one of our car trips with the kids when – upon taking the wheel for one leg of the trip – I felt myself melt into the drivers seat, relax, and really enjoy the trip. Suddenly if the kids were fighting, it wasn’t my problem! If someone spilled a beverage, if we lost a beanie baby out the window – none of it was my responsibility. Except for those annoying moments when I almost fall asleep (which really has only happened once to me) I enjoy driving immensely.

Because of my ongoing exhaustion issues I have a routine where I drive for 2 hours, then pull over to the side of the road in a shady spot, lower my seat and close my eyes for 15 minutes. Sometimes I sleep, but generally I just veg out a bit and feel much more refreshed and focused when I crank the seat back up.

For this trip I have a rental car. As you probably remember, I had a minor accident in Kentucky and, although my car is driveable, we’ve dropped it off at a body shop for estimates and repairs and the insurance company is footing the bill for a rental – so why not? It’s a chevy cavalier and it feels less roomy than my Elantra. Plus it doesn’t have cruise control or electric windows, and it’s black (hot), but it DOES have a CD player so I’ll be off to the library later today for some books on CD. Wish I had satellite radio so I could hear Air America!

Since this is kind of a spur of the moment decision I haven’t really prepared much. Yesterday I sent out 240 books (yes, 240!) and today I have about 50 to send – I’m just waiting for my next shipment from UPS which is due any moment. I’ll take the balance of the books with me to Columbus so if I run into a yarn shop owner who wants to get a few from me after closing time I’ll have them. I just sort of feel like it’s a good idea to show my face, wear my “Knitting Heretic” T-shirt around and generally be available. I’ll also have a chance to see some publishers and maybe interest folks in my next book ideas. Yes, IdeaS with an “s”.

My book has been available for 8 weeks – here are the sales thus far…

I’ll put a couple of homemade “press kits” together, with the above graphic, and take that with me, too. A literary agent called yesterday (he’s been emailing me and I sent him a book) It’s flattering that he wants to meet me, and I’m fortunate that a few good friends do consulting for book publishers so I can bounce ideas and proposals off of them. I don’t really feel giddy-excited, but just calm and happy about the way the book is doing, I think the curve of the sales so far is a good sign!