I grew up in Sacramento, and part of Hand Me Down takes place in Sacramento, so I’m extra excited to share this event with you: Tuesday, May 1st, at 7 pm I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Arden Fair Mall. I hope to see lots and lots of familiar faces at this one!

This is the Barnes & Noble I used to drive to at ten o’clock on Friday nights to get my book fix for the weekend. I bought journals that I filled with poems and teenage angst. Sometimes I wandered through the rows and rows of shelves for hours, making lists in my head of all the books I wanted and then narrowing it down until I had a number I could afford. I spent what most college kids spent on booze on piles of novels that I still have.

Other authors have told me that at their hometown events they’ve seen past teachers, classmates, neighbors, even dentists or hairstylists, or surprising other blasts from the past and I can’t wait to see who shows up here, in my hometown. If we were friends or acquaintances, if we worked together or went to the same school, if we met in softball or choir or at a show or through an ex-boyfriend, if we knew each other at all, I hope you’ll come say hello!

If we don’t know each other yet, come introduce yourself! I’m friendly. My students often write “approachable” in their evaluations.

The point is, come celebrate my first event in the city where I was born and (mostly) raised. I’m sure to be at my best with the home court advantage and all.