For Some Authors, Book Tours Are Cross-Country Write of Passage

Like Caesar’s Gaul, an author’s life is divided into three parts: writing the manuscript, getting it published and getting the public to buy the finished product. The book tour, which some authors find a joyous experience, can also be, as one writer put it, “the travelogue from hell.”

New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, appearing in the area recently for his book “Time Present, Time Past,” had years of experience rushing from city to city as a professional basketball player and then as a political candidate. However, flying from Denver to Santa Barbara to speak and sign books, then rushing to LAX to catch a plane to Florida all in one day broke all travel records, according to the senator.

So, if you come out this week to meet such best-selling authors as Clarissa Pinkola Estes from Denver, Thacher Hurd from Berkeley, J.F. Freedman from Santa Barbara and Alan Dershowitz from Massachusetts, ask them the one question that should get an honest, emotional response: How do you cope with The Book Tour?

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Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of the publishing phenomenon “Women Who Run With the Wolves,” will read from and sign her new book, “The Faithful Gardener,” at 7 p.m. Friday at Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St.

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Events at Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks has several weekend events. At 1 p.m. Friday, Paul Ford will present “Companion to Narnia,” an insight into “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. At 5 p.m. Friday, attorney Alan Dershowitz will discuss “Reasonable Doubts,” his book about the O.J. Simpson trial. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Paul Ford returns to read from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” by C.S. Lewis. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Laura Kath Fraser and Pamela Price Lechtman will sign “Family Adventure Guide: Southern California,” a guide to well-known and unusual vacation spots. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Michael Collings conducts a creative writing class.

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Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks will host Catherine Dain (“Luck of the Draw”) and Maxine O’Callaghan (“Shadow of a Child”) at a breakfast signing at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Lawrence Shames will sign “Tropical Depression” at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

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J.F. Freedman will sign “House of Smoke,” his mystery novel set in Santa Barbara, at 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura.

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Author and illustrator Thacher Hurd will sign “Art Dog” at 2 p.m. Saturday at Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura. His art is displayed this month in the Kideos Gallery.

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Shelley Savren, who teaches English and creative writing at Oxnard College, will read at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the OC Poetry Coffeehouse, 4000 S. Rose Ave. Call 986-5809 for details about the newly organized poetry readings.

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Gold Coast Fiction Writers, a chapter of Romance Writers of America, hosts its reorganization meeting tonight at 6:30. Writers are invited to drop in for dinner or dessert at Carrows Restaurant, Seaward Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, Ventura. Call Rosanne Falcone (after noon) at 653-2511 for details.

Frances Halpern, along with Jon O’Brien, is co-host of Beyond Words at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU 88.3 FM, Ventura County’s national public radio station.