The last week of October, I went on a six city pre-publicity tour to promote Fallen. Having finally caught up on some sleep and taken a little time to process all of the amazing things that happened, I’ve decided I feel about book tours the same way I feel about roller coasters:

They are wild. They are intense. There are moments when you think your stomach will drop out of your body—but as soon as the tour is over, you want to go again. And you wish you’d made a different face when that automatic camera snapped your picture after the first big drop. The point is: I loved it. I want a season pass.

The first stop on the tour was New York, my former home, which I miss. When I checked into the hotel, the receptionist looked down at her notes, then up at me and said, “Fallen. Is that that movie with Denzel?” Not yet, I told her.

I got to sign books at this very cool event called Teen Vogue Fashion University. It was swank-city. I think I got a full year’s worth of fashion inspiration from the teen girls ambling up and down the halls. Click for more details and pics after the jump…

I also spent some time with a great group of readers at the Elizabeth Irwin School in the West Village. It was my first real speaking event for the book, and everyone was so enthusiastic and friendly, they very quickly put me at ease.

One of the highlights of my trip to New York was finally getting to meet my wonderful, warm editor, Wendy Loggia, and the rest of the incredible team at Random House. I got to grovel before the art directors for making such a slammin’ cover, got to fawn over the publicity team for putting together such a great plan for the book. And Random House hosted an amazing dinner that night where I got to meet so many fun, vibrant booksellers, librarians, and sales reps. I’ve heard authors say this hundreds of times, but it really is so amazing to spend forever alone with the characters of your book—then poof—be in a room full of people happy to talk about them. I ate it up. And then stuffed a couple of desserts in my purse to bring my husband and his friend afterwards. The publisher told me to! Really!

Okay, right about now, I am starting to realize that if I spell out all the fabulous things that happened every, no one will make it through this blog before next Tuesday. I’m gonna have to break it down into highlights. So here they are:

A book talk with a great group of girls from the Paideia School in Atlanta.

Filming an author video in moody Savannah, where the book is set. Stay tuned, once it’s edited I’ll post it on the site.

Dinner at a haunted restaurant in Savannah. Don’t snicker like I did—80% of Savannans…Savannanites…?…have encountered a ghost. After some of the stories I heard that night, I’m starting to believe too…

The adorable eighth grade honors class at Jefferson Middle School in Naperville. They did a whole art unit on Fallen and even dressed up like angels and demons on the day I came to visit!

A very special dinner at Canlis Restaurant in Seattle, where the conversations were just as fun as the view.

A book club event in San Francisco, where a teen girl raised her hand and told me all about how her reading preferences had changed “due to the current economic climate.” Who has that much erudition in high school? I still don’t!

And, generally, getting to talk to some of the brightest, most interesting, not to mention FUN booksellers, librarians, and sales reps in the country. The world. The universe. They were awesome, all of them.

My suitcase fared worse they I did, giving out and losing one of its wheels after the first of eight flights in a week. But as my Jewish mother says, “that should be the worst thing that happened.” And I think it was.