Shameless self-promotion

Remember a few months ago, when I told y’all I’d published a novel? I’ll be signing copies from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Annie Laurie’s Antiques, 536 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, as part of Cape’s monthly First Friday with the Arts promotion.

If you’ll be in the area, stop by and see me — and be sure to bring extra money for shiny objects, because Laurie always has plenty of them. (Remember that cool ’70s dining set I posted a few weeks ago? I bought that from her.) Make sure to check out the other downtown businesses, too — all the fun little shops and galleries stay open late for First Friday, and Minglewood Brewery usually taps a firkin of some interesting new brew they’re trying out.

I’ll have copies of both Greetings from Coldwater and Route 66 for Kids on hand Friday. If you’ve already read the novel and just want to come in and ask questions about it, I’m game to answer them (if I know the answers; Shirley is just about as enigmatic to me as she is to you), and if you wanted to get a jump on your Christmas shopping, this would be a good way to do it. If you don’t know anybody who wants a book, you probably know somebody who’d like something from Annie Laurie’s or its sister shop across the street, the Indie House, which is sort of an incubator for several artsy little businesses.

Bonus: I think Laurie is planning to have a food truck outside, so you can grab dinner while you’re there, and if you don’t see something you like, you can always cruise a few blocks to find good Cajun, great pizza, or amazing wings. Come visit us!

Emily

A view from the (old) bridge

I logged three hilly miles this morning and stopped briefly to snap a quick iPhone picture from the overlook where the old bridge used to cross the Mississippi River. The water level has dropped about 10 feet since I was out there Monday, but the river is still high enough to move a lot faster than usual. It’ll be a while before the floodgates reopen and I can run along the river walk.

I’m getting my legs back. Monday’s run was ridiculously slow — 43 minutes, according to my Fitbit — but I covered the same distance today and a little bit more in 32 minutes and managed to run negative splits in the process, largely because I got distracted, missed a walk interval, and ended up running 1000:100 intervals instead of 500:100 on the second half of the run. Hopefully I’ll keep picking up speed as I go. I think my fastest 5K was just under 28 minutes, and I’d like to get back to that pace if I can.

I’ve got a very slow five-miler planned for Saturday morning, assuming the weather cooperates; if it doesn’t, I’ll have to score a rainsuit somewhere, because I am completely unwilling to go anywhere near a gym in January.

Emily