Authors Brian Herbert (the Dune saga) on left and Bruce Taylor ("Mr. Magic Realism") during one of the sunnier moments of Northwest Bookfest 2011.

I needed to be cloned–at least twice–to do everything I wanted to do and be everywhere that I needed to be this last weekend:

• 40th high school reunion — Friday night.
• More reunion festivities where everyone walks around saying,  “Who are all these old folks?” — Saturday until everyone gets bored or dies of old age.
• Sell Last Kiss goodies in Kirkland at a booth at Northwest Bookfest — Saturday & Sunday 10 .am. to 6 p.m.
• Be back in Seattle BEFORE 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to take care of my sick mother.
• Stay home all weekend and kill some deadlines before they kill me.

How’d I do? Well, numerous fans kindly volunteered to take over for me at Bookfest. But I needed to at least set up my booth and be there for at least a few hours. So this is what happened…

• Made it to the reunion Friday night and had a great time pretending I remembered people.
• Skipped the reunion events Saturday so that I could be at Bookfest. Too bad. I was actually looking forward to more people going, “Oh, my God! Are you still alive?”
• Saturday morning I set up at Bookfest and waited for the crowds to arrive. Four hours later I decided they weren’t coming. Frankly, I don’t blame them. Having the vendors for a literary festival outside in October (especially in the Seattle area) is asking for trouble. It was kinda cold. And kinda wet. No sides to the tents of most booths. So it was hard to keep merchandise (and ourselves) dry. A friend was coming later in the day to take over for me. But having a friend be miserable and cold in my place didn’t seem fair. Plus security was going to be a problem when the show closed for the night. So leaving stuff overnight was out. So I just packed up and left around 2 p.m. Saturday. I didn’t come back the next day. Oddly enough, though, I’m glad I attended Bookfest. I enjoyed talking to my booth mates–old pals Bruce Taylor and Roberta Gregory and new pals Carl & Lida Sloan, and Brian Herbert. I especially enjoyed meeting Brian. I knew his dad Frank and it was fun reminiscing and finding out what’s going on with the Dune series.
• Took care of my mom Saturday night. Shelagh filled in for me Sunday night so I could write.
• And, yes, I made all my deadlines. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this!