East Coast Tour for ASHFALL

I'm starting the third week of an east coast tour for my debut novel, ASHFALL. I visit high schools, junior highs, libraries, and booksellers and give a talk that's part taekwondo demonstration, part reading/writing revival meeting, and part geology horror show. Here are a few pics from my talk last week at St. Francis Prep in Queens:

From watching my talks, you'd probably conclude that I'm the biggest extrovert in the world, but in fact the opposite is true. I much prefer home, solitude, and my small circle of friends to meeting new people every day and psyching myself up to give great presentations. So yesterday I was feeling pretty exhausted and depressed. Asking myself fruitless questions like, "Why do I bother?"

The response to my question came via Facebook. Here it is, although I've stripped the names out to protect this student's privacy:

"Hi Mr. Mullin, recently you went to Port Richmond High School in Staten Islamd, NY and met a young Lady named [daughter's name]. You made a great impression on her and thanks to your book Ashfall she is reading again. I.always encouraged her to read since she was little and she did until her grades started going down and she became difficult, she became a teen. [Daughter] is 14 now and I am so happy to see her reading and seeing her so into your book fills my heart, Thank you. I now have hope that she will turn her grades around. Thank you for listening to her and giving her your card she will be emailing you once.she's done reading your book and she wanted me to say hi and.that she can't wait for your next book to come out.... Truthfully neither can I. Good luck."

Now I'm ready to psych myself up for another week of great presentations. I still look forward to finally returning home and spending more time with my wife, and even her cats, but knowing I made some kind of difference to at least one student and her mother makes the three weeks away worthwhile.