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I’ve had a few days to collect my thoughts on our first Bella Y Tour, and at the risk of wearing out a pun, I’m still feeling Rocky Mountain hYgh. I can look back over the years on some special events in my book career—like my first Women’s Week in P’Town or my 50th birthday at Orlando Bardcon—but nothing has left such a feeling of satisfaction, accomplishment and pride. It’s challenging to share the highlights when there were so many, but I’ll give it a go.
 Wednesday: I drove all day across Kansas, and while the easy highlight was arriving at Tami’s house in Denver, I have to admit a close second was discovering a Starbucks at mile marker 53 on I-70.
Thursday: Just a small panic attack in the afternoon when Tami dropped Ruth & me off on the 16th Street Mall and we ended up in a dead zone where my cell phone didn’t work to reconnect. We miraculously found each other just in time to hook up with the rest of the Bella & Spinsters crew at Steuben’s, where I had an outstanding beet salad with goat cheese. Yes, that salad was a highlight. While eating, we quickly decided how to organize our readings at Hamburger Mary’s, and then made a grand entrance to an eager crowd. I waited until the last moment to narrow my choices of excerpts, and asked the listeners to choose whether they wanted to hear a funny scene or a love scene. Only one person voted for funny. Shocking! That marked the first time I’ve publicly read such a scene, but from the smiles on the listeners’ faces, I’m certain now it won’t be the last. The Who-Came-the-Farthest award went to a pair of ladies from BELGIUM!
Friday: What on earth were we thinking? Our midday hike up Evergreen Mountain was spectacular, but overly-ambitious ahead of our 7-hour appearance at First Friday. I was dead on my feet, but my feet didn’t seem to know it, as the dance floor beckoned all night. Okay, so it wasn’t the dance floor beckoning—it was Tami dragging my butt out there over protest, but every minute was a celebration. I was amazed at the diversity of the crowd that filled our room and spilled over into the next, but nothing prepared me for the tour into the third room, which was jam-packed with hot women spinning to a techno-beat. All night long, women stopped at our table to look over our titles and chat, and many expressed dismay at seeing their stories in print. Spinsters author Rose Pry introduced herself to everyone there.
Saturday: Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to dance until 1 a.m. on the night before a Habitat build? Not only am I not as young as I used to be, I’m not sure I ever was that young to begin with. That said, once we showed up at the build site, we were rejuvenated by the energy and excitement of all the women in attendance. Best of all, we had the chance to work with Rodolfo, the young man who will one day live with his daughter, Bella Rose, in the home we helped build. If you’ve never worked on a Habitat site, the Women’s Build is definitely the way to go. I’ve volunteered with Habitat in the past, and while I never felt unappreciated, I sometimes felt pushed to the margins by more experienced builders, relegated to fetching things, holding ladders and cleaning up. Not so in Denver, where I was part of the team that put on the ridge cap (the shingles that run along the apex of the roof). From our perch, we watched Rose, Ruth Perkinson & Kenna White build a shed from a pile of lumber. Only one mishap from the roof, and that was dropping an open utility knife amidst the painters (Karin Kallmaker &Tracey Richardson) below and holding my breath until someone shouted that it missed. Whew! By the end of the day, I was whipped, sunburned & filthy, but what a thrill it was to work alongside my fellow authors and the women who came out to join us—Tami, Sarah, MJ, Patty, Jacci, Thora & Jan. Yes, the exhaustion was a highlight, but the next best thing of the day was the awesomest guacamole I’ve ever eaten, courtesy of Tami, who hosted us all for dinner. We were nearly comatose.
Sunday: Our reading at the Belmar Public Library on Sunday was like an after-party, casual and relaxing, despite the hailstones that bounced outside. Once again, we read snippets from our work. I eschewed the love scene this time in favor of the doggie-door incident from Aftershock, the highlight of which was Ruth barking three times as the voice of Chester the basset hound. We had a great turnout, and one reader brought a waist-high stack of Bella Books to be signed. If only we could clone…
As I write this, it’s now Thursday. I’m back in Tennessee and almost rested up, but the afterglow of our first Y Tour stop hasn’t dissipated. We owe many thanks to those who had a hand in publicizing our events and rolling out the welcome mat. These folks in particular deserve a mention: Silke of Hip Chicks Out, who brought out the crowd for our Thursday night reading; Dede of Babes Around Denver, who supported us and gave us space at First Friday; the folks at Hamburger Mary’s; Jeanne, Colleen, Kathy & Karen from Habitat Women’s Build; Marjorie from the Belmar Public Library; Sara, of Samuelson True Value Hardware (on the Western Slope), who donated the Y Tour polo shirts we wore at the library; Sarah & MJ, who lent heart, soul, hands & wheels at every turn; and most of all, to Tami, who first brainstormed the events and pulled them all together, including our fabulous website! First-time events are rarely so successful, but this one absolutely ROCKED. We’ve accepted the invitation to return, and something tells me next year’s will be bigger and better.
Click on the Events tab at the top of the page for some Y Tour photos!
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