This Friday is the final reading and the end of the “Talking To Animals” book tour. I’ll be at Northshire Books in Manchester, Vt. at 6 p.m. with Red, and possibly, Gus. I’ll be talking about my ideas for a new and wiser understanding of animals.  I’ll be sharing what I have learned about communicating with animals and listening to them.

I’ll also be talking about the lessons of the New York Carriage Horse controversy, and also the small dog experience I am having with Gus. Maria will be joining me. This book tour has been quiet, some nice reviews, some good readings.

Publicity is difficult these days, our President is soaking up most of it, and publishing, as we all know, has changed. I’ve gotten a lovely response from people who have read the book or are reading it, but the sales have been pretty slow, and compared to past years there are few reviews and little publicity.

I have to be honest, as I have promised, this tour had an almost eerily quiet feeling about it. I usually go on a score of talk shows and get dozens of reviews. Not this time.

If not for the blog, I don’t think anyone would know about it at all. I’m not sure how to assess that – it could be me, publishing’s malaise, the distractions of the news, or maybe my book writing career is winding down. My opening reading, at  my hometown bookstore drew five people, that was a bit of a warning sign, although I did draw some big and enthusiastic crowds later on.

It’s just difficult to read. But the book is very important to me, it chronicles my own life with animals, and it also asks if we can find ways to keep animals other than pets in our world and on our planet. I’ve had some wonderful discussions with people on this tour.

I love writing books, but the publishing environment I wrote in is gone now, I rarely even speak with the people I work with, and have not heard a word from then since the book came out in May. Unfortunately, this is not personal, it’s quite common.Still,  I am happy – and lucky –  to be doing another book.

The  blog is my living memoir now, my continuous book. If not for the blog, I doubt I would be a writer at all. Writers are supposed to always refer to their books as big hits on the rise, but that does not appear to be true in this case. It is discouraging, but also a part of the writer’s life.

If I don’t like it, I can go do something else.

I don’t know, I’ll figure it out. I feel good about this book it is important, to me, and I think, to the future of animals in our world. Lots to discuss. And any reading with Red and Gus is likely to be a hit.  I feel very much like a writer there.

I am excited to be going to Northshire, a beautiful bookstore where I have always gone when my books come out. I’ll be signing books there, of course.

And I remind my out-of-town readers, which is most of you,  that you can buy my book or any of my books at Battenkill Books, my local independent bookstore, and I will sign and personalize it for you. Connie Brooks will also send you a neat tote bag free of charge. If you’d like to do that, you can go their website, they take Paypal and major credit cards, or you can call the store at 518 677 – 2515.

We’ll be at Battenkill 6 p.m. Friday, and I can’t think of a better place to end the book tour for “Talking To Animals.”