More Seattle Stuff

So this is my not-so-quick-blog. As I said before I’m in Seattle at the moment and after that I’m heading for Portland. Tomorrow I have a phone interview with an Oregon radio station, KINK-FM and then I’ll be going to an in-studio radio interview at Seattle’s KMPS-FM’s show “Introspective Northwest.” When that’s done I’ll be rushing off to KOMO TV to do a short spot on their Morning News show and when that’s done I’m going to the zoo. You see I have my son with me on this tour. We’re staying with a friend of mine who until yesterday I hadn’t seen in 9 years. You know how there are some people who you can be away from for eons only to get back together with them and feel like no time has past at all? That’s what it’s been like hanging out with Anne these last few days. She has two beautiful children, a 2 year old boy and a 5 year old girl and my son has been having a fantastic time with both of them. In fact he and the girl have been inseparable until about a half hour ago. Unfortunately at that time the two of them got in an argument that lead to the time out of the little girl at which point my son informed me that the two of them had broken up. But I have a feeling that this trial separation will be short lived.

Traveling with a child is always a bit challenging and traveling with a child while you're working is even more difficult. I’m trying to figure out what I can wear tomorrow that will be professional enough for a television interview and comfortable enough for the zoo since I won’t have time to change. And then there’s the fun of the airport. The only time I ever really bemoan the challenges of being a single mother is when I’m attempting air travel with my son. It would be so great if I had another person around to carry his booster seat and watch the luggage while I take him to the bathroom. But I will say that once we’re actually on the plane my child is a great traveler. He doesn’t get overly fussy and he never complains about his ears popping during take-offs and landings. In fact he loves going on planes. It’s the only place he can get free 7-Up and peanuts.

Tomorrow night I’ll be signing at Third Place Books. Doing book signings in a strange city is always a crap shoot. I may get a large crowd or I may get two people. Either way I’m looking forward to it.

More soon….

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Sorry I've Been Out Of Touch

This is one of those hit and run blogs. Last week I did something unconscionable. I killed my computer. It wasn’t an intentional homicide. It all started with an innocent glass of water. Computers really don’t like water.

Anyway I saved my harddrive but I apologize for not posting for so long. I’m currently touring the North West and am at this moment in Seattle where I will appear on North West Afternoon on Komo –TV. I have to get ready for the shoot so I will give you more details later.

If you’ve been emailing I apologize for not having received it yet. I’m still working on getting my kd@kyradavis.com account up and running again (hopefully that will be done in the next few days). However you can always email me through my yahoo account kyradavis31@yahoo.com

More info tomorrow.



Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Santa Cruz and BEA

Well the Santa Cruz Borders signing was fantastic. Lots of my friends showed up so it was kind of like having my own little personal party at a major bookstore. I also had the privilege of meeting Anne Cleven, the Bay Area director of Special Events for Borders. This woman just radiates intelligence and business savvy. She had some wonderful promotion ideas for me. She even said that the San Francisco Union Square Borders would help me capitalize on the book’s pink cover by promoting it during breast cancer awareness month in October. She suggested that I do the annual walk and then they would set up a book signing booth for me at the finish line. Some of the proceeds would go toward the cause. This is a wonderful idea on so many levels. Obviously the promotion will help me build a name for myself and my book but more importantly it will help get the word out about how women can lower their chances of getting breast cancer and how they can deal with it if they are diagnosed with it. San Francisco has more reported cases of breast cancer per capita than any other area in the nation. Coming in second is Marin County which is just two minutes outside the city. It’s a scary statistic and I’m happy to lend my name to this cause.

It’s been a while since Book Expo America but I thought I’d give you a recap anyway. This was my first year at BEA and before I arrived I had conjured up a mental image of what it would be like. I imagined lots of booths set up by the major publishing houses, authors, agents and booksellers milling about in droves, individuals schmoozing and networking, stuff like that. My mental image was pretty much on target except I hadn’t included the one detail that makes BEA such a wonderful event. Free books!!!! That’s right, the publishers are there trying to promote their current and future titles to booksellers and in order to do so they give books away to everyone and anyone who’s fortunate enough to be able to attend the event. Everywhere I looked there were people wandering around with tote bags filled with novels. Personally I felt like a kid in a candy store. I found myself pacing up and down the aisles trying to spot piles of books that were there to be taken. If I had known what to expect I would have brought along an extra suitcase.

My own signing was on the second day of the event and I was literally shocked to see how many people showed up to get a book and have me sign it for them. Red Dress Ink had around 6 boxes of books to give away and we ran out in less than an hour. What made the whole thing even better was the number of people who showed up who apparently read this blog. Although I have lots of evidence to the contrary I always assume that only 5-6 people are reading this thing and I’m always pleasantly surprised when that theory is proven wrong.

The night after the signing was party time. I went to the International Thriller Writers' soiree first which was a blast and then I went to Harlequin’s party. I gotta say, Harlequin knows how to throw a great bash. There was a red carpet, a wonderful band, an open bar and enough food to feed everyone in Time Square. I wore my favorite lavender dress and my cocktail shoes (I call them that because I need to have a cocktail in order to tolerate the pain caused by wearing them—but they’re damn sexy so their worth getting inebriated for)and hung out with the other Red Dress Ink gals.

If you click here you can see a photo of me along with several other “thriller writers” signing at BEA (just scroll down past the pictures of that Midsummer Night Swing thing) and if you click here you can get a sideways glance of me on Harlequin's red carpet. Note that a few of the thriller writers had a bottle of water next to them while signing their books. For some strange reason I’m the only one who opted to quench my thirst with a cup of Starbucks coffee.

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Hating Gives You Wrinkles

Geez, my life is moving so fast these days my blogs can’t keep up. Before I go into a little more detail about the Philly tour let me give you a few quick updates.

First and foremost I’m going to be reading at the Santa Cruz Borders on Wednesday night at 7:00. If you can make it I’d love to meet you.

Secondly, I was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday Style section. Columnist Jane Ganahl recommended my book as a good summer read. I’ve always liked Jane’s column but now I believe I’ll start reading it religiously.

Third, I was featured in Aileen Jacobson’s Newsday article about Book Expo America. It was a brief mention but when you consider all the big name authors that attended that event I find the fact that Aileen chose to mention me at all as a major compliment.

Fourth, on the 8th I was interviewed by ABC radio network’s show “The Touch.” It’s syndicated to 70 different stations nationwide—I’m not sure when the interview will air. Of all the radio interviews that I’ve done so far this one was by far my favorite. The interviewers were skilled and personable and incredibly easy to talk to. There’s more news…but it’ll have to wait.

Okay, back to my Philly tour. The morning after the DoubleTree manager’s reception I was interviewed by Connie Colla on CN8’s Your Morning. It was a brief interview and for the most part it went very well. We discussed the book (you may think that this goes without saying but it’s amazing how often interviewers spend all their time asking authors to talk about themselves and neglect to ask them about their books) and we talked about how writing Sex, Murder And A Double Latte helped to keep me sane while I was going through a difficult divorce. The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was Connie’s last comment which was as follows: “I bet your wonderful career keeps you so busy you no longer have the time to take your ex-husband’s phone calls.”

I recognized it to be the closing statement that it was and so I didn’t bother trying to correct her. However for the record: my ex-husband is the father of my child, of course I take his calls. I realize that she was joking and I certainly don’t hold the remark against her in anyway. She was a great interviewer and I would welcome the chance to talk to her again on or off camera, but here’s the thing…I have never said anything negative about my ex-husband in any kind of public forum or published article and I have no intention of starting now. Yes, I’ve said it was a horrible and messy divorce and you can take from that what you will and I’d be lying if I said that my ex and I were best buds, but we’re not bitter enemies either and here’s why: my son loves him and he loves my son. There are times when I can be angry with my ex-husband but I can’t hate someone who loves my son and I certainly can’t hate someone who gave me my son. I don’t care what grievances I have with him personally, nothing will change the way that I feel on this issue. I think some people get caught up in the idea that we are supposed to hate certain people…namely our exs and their new significant others. I don’t really understand that. Once upon a time I shared my life with this guy and now I should hate him? How does hating him make my life easier? And why should I hold any ill will against his new fiancée? For my son’s 5th birthday I invited both my ex and his fiancée to come into town for the party. While I was running around lighting birthday candles and organizing scavenger hunts a friend of mine struck up a conversation with said fiancée, not realizing who she was. Afterwards my friend called me up to apologize. “I was nice to the other woman! I’m so sorry!”

Her apology puzzled me. “She’s not the other woman,” I explained. “She’s THE woman. There’s nothing that she has that I want back.”

I figure it’s like this: if he’s able to make things work with this woman then he’ll be a happier person and if he’s a happier person he’s bound to be a better father. It’s a win-win. Furthermore I want to have a friendly relationship with the fiancée. She and my ex live rather far away but periodically my son will go up to see them and when that happens I want her to feel like she can call me if she has any questions or concerns about my child’s behavior or needs.

I know it can be difficult to resist the temptation to loose yourself in bitterness when you feel you’ve been wronged, especially when you don’t feel like those wrongs have in any way been righted or even acknowledged. But being bitter takes an enormous amount of energy plus you’ll give yourself those little frown lines around your mouth and on your forehead and you’ll have to get Botox in order to correct the problem—unless of course you can’t afford Botox because you’ve been wronged in a manner that has adversely effected your pocket book in which case you’ll become even more bitter about your inability to get your face paralyzed and thus you’ll get even more lines. Seriously—you should leave bitterness to those who can afford a plastic surgeon. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t periodically bitch about your ex to your girlfriends and the like---please do. And if you’re a writer and have the urge to write about castrating a man who bears a disturbing resemblance to someone you used to date then by all means hack away. But after you’ve done all that move on with your life. It says right there in the Declaration of Independence that we have the right to pursue happiness and if you’re allowing your hurt feelings to stand in the way of your own pursuit of this goal you are officially in violation of the constitution.

It’s very late and there is a chance that I’m babbling but I’m fairly sure I have a few words of wisdom hiding somewhere in this moderately incoherent blog post. If not then check back with me on a day during which I’ve consumed a little more caffeine.

I’ll tell you all about Book Expo America in the next post.

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

More Tour Details

Well my five year old is now a six year old. His birthday was yesterday and we’ve been celebrating for the last 48 hours. It’s wonderful to be with him again. I gave him a miniature snow globe of NYC before I left for the East Coast for the second time. I told him that if he found himself missing me he should hold onto it and know that I was in the city he held in the palm of his hand. My mother tells me he kept the snow globe with him at all times; in the house, the yard, the movie theater…everywhere. But when I came back he intentionally broke it. He said he wouldn’t need it anymore since we were NEVER going to be apart for that long again.

Fortunately I was able to buy my way out of my parental guilt by treating him to dinner at his favorite restaurant (Burger King) and then I whisked him off to Baskin Robbins for a scoop of Red Raspberry Sherbet. Little side note about Burger King—they’re giving away Star Wars paraphernalia and my son scored a Princess Leah doll in his kid’s meal. Here’s the thing: The Princess Leah doll is really one of those little viewmaster thingies. But the place where you put your eye is well…underneath her and to change the image you have to gently roll this dial on her back. So basically if you stroke Princess Leah just right while looking up her skirt she’ll reveal a secret galaxy. Am I the only one who finds this a tad bizarre?

Okay now for more tour details. My first television spot in Philadelphia was on WCAU-TV News Channel 10. I was interviewed by the newscaster/host Lauren Hart. She is an incredibly nice woman and extremely easy to talk to. I must admit that I enjoy being interviewed. It's not just that I like to talk about myself (although that's always fun) but I'm also interested in what it is about me or my book that has peaked an interviewer's curiosity. You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of questions they ask. In this case Lauren asked me about Sophie being biracial and the whole story of how I went from being a struggling single mom dealing with a divorce to a successful author being interviewed on television. Once I was off air I hung out with some of the guys on the production team and while we were chatting the door opened and a vaguely familiar and very attractive man walked in. In fact he was too attractive to be one of us regular people so I quickly surmised that he must be a Hollywood actor. Two minutes later he was sitting in the chair I had been interviewed in just moments before. The commercial break ended and Lauren smiled at the cameras and said, “We’re here with Skeet Ulrich to talk about his new television role as…”

I’ll admit that I tuned out at that point. Not because I don’t care about dear old Skeet’s new role but because I was a little taken aback by the realization that I had been interviewed on the same show that was now interviewing a Hollywood heartthrob. I know he doesn’t have the fame of Brad Pitt or anything but he’s kind of a big deal and I’m…well…I’m just me.

Anyway from there I went to my interview at channel 6 for a show called Visions. The channel 6 offices are about 15 minutes out of Philadelphia so I was grateful when one of the crew members from channel 10 offered to give me a ride. Producer Warren Trent interviewed me. There’s really no way not to like Warren. He has this low key demeanor and quiet sense of humor that just immediately puts you at ease. Plus he’s an intelligent and insightful interviewer. After we were done he offered to give me a ride back into town and he used the time we spent driving to tell me about all the things I should do (and eat) while in Philly. Unfortunately I was insanely busy during the time I was there and the only tourist attraction I had a chance to see was the Liberty Bell. However I was able to find the time to gain a few pounds.

When I got back to Philly I contemplated how I was going to spend the rest of my evening. I was jet-lagged, on my own and I had an early morning interview scheduled for the next day. I was considering going to a movie when I discovered that my hotel (the DoubleTree ) was hosting a “manager’s reception” for their guests in one of their conference rooms. This seemed like the ideal solution to my what-should-I-do-with-myself-now-dilemma. The Philadelphia DoubleTree is basically a business traveler’s hotel and most of the people who attended the party were people who stay there frequently for work related purposes. Many of them knew each other and all of them were welcoming and talkative. Dawn Cook, the hotel’s business travel sales manager, is one of the kindest and most hospitable people I’ve ever met. I could have hung out talking with her for hours. She even offered to put up a poster advertising my impending signing in the lobby. Over the last few weeks I’ve stayed at the W in New York’s Union Square, The Marriott Marquis in New York’s Times Square and the DoubleTree in Philly. Although Red Dress Ink bore the expense I’ve been told that the Marquis normally rents their rooms for $400 a night. And yet I have never felt as at home and comfortable in a hotel as I did at the DoubleTree in Philly. They even give their guests warm chocolate chip cookies when they check in. Nobody at the W gave me a cookie.

Anyway I’ll tell you more about my trip in my next blog entry. You know when I started blogging I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough to write about. Now I feel like I have so much to share that I could blog all day and night and still be forced to leave stuff out.

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

I'm back!

I’m home!

It truly is a wonderful thing. Not that I haven’t been enjoying every second of my tour so far but I’m more than a little worn out. I suppose that’s to be expected but my flight yesterday compounded the problem. Red Dress Ink booked me on a flight out of LaGuardia at 4:55 pm and then I was scheduled to have a one hour layover in Chicago before traveling the rest of the way to California. I got to the airport a bit early and was gratified when they boarded the plane on time. Then as soon as everyone had their seatbelt buckled and cell phones turned off the pilot announced that due to some weather problems in the Midwest we might not be able to take off for another 40 minutes. They kept us on the plane sitting at the gate for another half hour at which point they pulled out onto the runway—where we sat for another two hours. Apparently it’s a security violation to allow passengers to get off an airplane after it has left a gate but hasn’t left the ground. I’m sure there’s a good reason for this but I have to say that I don’t think anyone on the plane was feeling violent until they were told that they were going to have to spend hours of their afternoon sitting on runway with nothing but a very small bag of pretzels nosh on.

Fortunately I didn’t miss my connecting flight. In fact I didn’t even come close to missing it since it was delayed four and a half hours. I arrived in California at around two thirty in the morning PST. In other words the entire trip took me about twelve and a half hours.

Okay, enough kvetching….let me get to the good stuff. The last few weeks have been so packed with interviews, book signings and television appearances that I honestly don’t think one blog entry is sufficient to cover it all. So I’ll start with The Look For Less and then tell you about the following events is subsequent entries.

The Look For Less really was one hell of a lot of fun. I adore James (the show’s celebrity stylist). He is intelligent, fashion savvy and incredibly fun to hang out with. Yoanna is the hostof the show and also the winner of last season’s America’s Top Model. I’ve never seen that show but it’s easy to imagine how she could have won that kind of competition. She’s one of those women who can look perfect without a hint of make-up and then brings physical perfection to a whole new level when she does wear it.

We shopped the outlets of upstate New York which was great. I particularly liked Off 5th, Sak Fifth Avenue’s outlet store. The outfit that James picked out for me was perfect. Many of you know that I used to work in the fashion industry so I know how to put together an ensemble, yet James spotted pieces that I would have normally passed up and created a look that was sophisticated, sexy and fashion forward. The show will be on sometime in July—I promise to let you know when they give me the exact date.

I think my favorite part of the whole experience was having a make-up artist follow me around. Every time I started to shine she was right there ready to powder me down. Since I have incredibly oily skin those powder sessions took place every five minutes or so. I wish I could take her along to every party—but then again I also wish I had someone who could airbrush every picture of me in a swimsuit. Unfortunately my advance doesn’t allow for those kind of expenses.

Still I enjoyed doing the whole Cinderella-at-the-ball thing, even though I did eventually have to return to my pumpkin lifestyle. Besides, with the way things have been going for me lately my pumpkin is tasting a lot like a rather decadent pie.

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!