I’m a little out of breath, but I’m happy. I finished the race, er, I mean the blog tour for The Knife and the Butterfly. And I had fun. Really. And I did not spend all my writing time for top-secret novel #3 setting up guest posts. I did my writing a little bit at a time–mostly in advance–and, lo and behold, that elephant got eaten!

I’ll admit that for about 5 minutes I thought about the whole blog tour thing as a kind of author obligation (seeing as how–living in Paris and all–I’m not able to do as much live promo stuff). But I grew out of that fast when I realized what a great chance a blog tour is to learn about my own writing, meet great bloggers and fellow authors, and connect with readers. I even discovered a few writing soulmates along the way. 

Speaking of… Tanita S. Davis over at Finding Wonderland did this amazing post all about the blog tour that captures very well what’s important about a blog tour:

The best thing about a blog tour is that it allows an author to think deeply and really talk about their work, and allows readers to ask the niggling, secret, or silly questions they’ve got lurking within them about a work, about an author, or about their process.

You definitely should read Tanita’s whole Big Ideas, Small Venues post.

Okay, so I have lots more to say about blog tours–why to do them, how to do them and handle organization (thank you, Scrivener), and more. But here’s one last blog tour digest to send you spinning out in many directions across the Internet. This time, I’m starting with my favorites…

2/17/12 -·The Edge in Fiction, or: Why Safe Books Are Dead Books·-·Finding Wonderland

I think this is the most important post of the tour. Not a defense of cussing or “mature themes,” but an exploration of why books need to take us to some kind of edge.

2/23/12 -·Excerpt from·TK&TB·plus 6 peeks behind the scenes·-·Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing

My favorite excerpt from The Knife and the Butterfly.

2/27/12 -·Letter to My Teen Self (including… how I dropped out of high school and found a voice) -·Dear Teen Me

Definitely the highest concentration of embarrassing stories about me on the Internet. Also… nerdy photos.

Even more fab posts here:

2/17/12 – Review of The Knife and the Butterfly·- Stacked

2/20/12 – Interview (including… my misplaced loyalties, plot twists, and takeaways) – Ex-libris Kate

2/21/12 -·One Houston, Two Worlds (& excerpt) -·Fictitious Musings

2/22/12 – Two Truths and a Lie Contest -·Maggie’s Bookshelf·**Giveaway**

2/24/12 – Being a Writer in Paris (with photos!) -·Confessions of a Readaholic

Click here for links to all 30+ (!) blog tour stops. And thanks to everyone who helped make the blog tour a success–much gratitude!