Charmed Monday Minute, July 2

Because I've been on the road for three weeks and have so much to share, I'm going to forego our standard ezine format with quotes, q & a, books reviews, etc., and just write you a letter. The tour was lovely, start to finish - the best of my eight book tours, I believe. (Yes, there have been ten books, but only eight got tours.) Part of the blissing of it (that is my new favorite made-up word) was that it was June. My Younger by the Day tour was in January - big difference. And this time they built in "travel days" so it was leisurely and I didn't come home feeling as if I needed a vacation. It was a good lesson for future travels, business and personal: faster is not always better. The tour began in Portland, Oregon, where I was the houseguest of my dear friend Terry Jordan. We met nine years ago, after she'd read my book Shelter for the Spirit. She had a little book party for me, which was wonderful. I am all for these in-home gatherings. That way, I really get to meet people and talk with them and learn about them.

The next morning I did the Sunday morning services at Unity World Healing Center in Oswego, and a talk and signing at 23rd Avenue Books in Portland. The next day I was on AM Northwest, a long-running local TV talk show. That night Jennifer Louden (www.comfortqueen.com) and I did a co-presentation at New Renaissance Books. We'd never spoken together before, but we came off like a well-rehearsed comedy act. It was so much fun. (And someone who likes both of our books gave us homemade soap!) In Portland, I also got to know Barbara Christenson (www.speakwellbeing.com) who books me to speak for women's health conferences. AND I got a speaker story: a magical life event that's good enough to tell in public. I wandered into a nail salon and the guy working there does ballroom and salsa dancing. At the end of my manicure, wet nails and all, he led me out into the center of this kind of grubby salon and said, "First, we learn rumba." It was amazing. I kept telling myself: "Remember this: you may never again dance in a nail salon." In Seattle, there was a talk/discussion at Barnes & Noble University Place. It seemed that someone came representing every book I've ever written. "I first read Creating a Charmed Life... I know you from Fit from Within... I found Fat, Broke & Lonely No More three days ago and had to come..." It was so sweet. Among the attendees was a dear reader-friend Elaine Stefanowicz (Elaine: if I'm spelling your name wrong, please forgive me, I'm going on instinct) who actually got on the phone the next day and booked me a radio show.

I also spent time with author Jane Adams whom I met last year when I interviewed her for an article I wrote for Body & Soul about women's friendships. (She wrote Boundary Issues and When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us.) We had lunch at the café beneath Eliot Bay Books and she took me with her to walk her dog. (I was already dog-deprived, and it had only been a few days.) Then San Francisco - what a place! I had lunch with my clever and gracious editor Gideon Weil and dinner at Millennium, a superb, 5-star vegan restaurant. As a guest of the owners Larry and Ann Wheat, I was treated to the most sumptuous tasting menu! They gave me a written menu so I could share details with you. I'll do that next week.

Also in the Bay area, I did a signing at Book Passage in Corte Madera and lunched with Julie Stuffelbeam (she and her husband manufacture a very cool toy: www.beamo.com) at Café Gratitude (the restaurant where every dish is an affirmation: I am Grateful, I am Beautiful, I am Joyful, I am Worthy). Brenda Kinsel (she's a terrific image consultant and author - www.brendakinsel.com) came to the signing, as did the editors of VegNews magazine, and Marci Shimoff (Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul) whom I kept looking at, thinking I knew her, until I realized I'd seen her in The Secret. (And another lovely reader gave me homemade soap. I'll be too spoiled for store soap after this.) In Palo Alto, I spoke at a beautiful Unity church (the minister, Karyn Bradley, used to be at Unity in Kansas City) and in San Rafael, I addressed Vegetarians in Marin, a guest of my gracious and life-changing former agent, Patti Breitman. (I have the best agent karma: both my agents are fairy godmothers. However, they're about my age, so fairy god-sisters maybe?) Then LA - in fact, I'll stop with LA because it was so special, and I can fill you in on Chicago, KC, and environs next week. Southern California really is heavenly in so many ways: the flowers, the weather, and that little bit of Hollywood magic not far away.

My event at Barnes & Noble at The Grove (an outdoor shopping mall that looks like an oldtime town center) was so much fun. Dinner followed with great friends: Suzanne Taylor (www.mightycompanions.com; Suzanne is making a film about crop circles), Cynthia Dadonna (Diary of a Modern-Day Goddess - and she's about to start a syndicated radio show called "Romancing the Table"), Michele Anton (she was Dr. Laura's exec producer for years and is the author of Weekend Entrepreneurs), Mary Cordaro (she does environmental home design ), and reader Camille Wilson, a lovely teacher I met last year when I did a retreat at Pumpkin Hollow Farm in upstate New York. I felt so warm and safe on the other side of the country with all these amazing women. It realized that wherever I go, I have God and, almost wherever I go, I have people. The next morning I went to Frederic Fekkai on Rodeo Drive for hair and makeup. The makeup person, Janice Bremec (www.janicebremec.com) is actually the makeup artist for Extreme Makeover. Then I was driven to Warner Brothers and had a terrific meeting about a TV possibility. I will tell you all about it once there is something absolutely solid to tell. I will say that, for a girl from Kansas City, going through those gates of Warner Brothers (Clark Gable could have come around a corner and I wouldn't have been surprised) and having people who can make things happen interested in my work. Well, it was very, very special. Hold a thought for me - I'll keep you posted on further developments. (And hold on tight to your very own dreams! Believe me, if these possibilities are taking shape for me, you can do anything.) We will send out a Minute next week but not on Monday - Joya's parents will be visiting. In the meantime, l recommend Michael Moore's Sicko. I believe it's his best film, and the one that will reach the farthest and cross barriers to open discussion about a topic that concerns all of us. Be well and happy - Victoria

VICTORIA'S NEW, 10th, and (we're hearing!) BEST BOOK EVER, Fat, Broke & Lonely No More: Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending, and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places from HarperOne Get your copy today! If you'd like to order online, here are links to the big guys: Amazon Barnes & Noble Or, call your favorite independent bookstore to reserve your copy! (To find an independent bookstore in your area, you can search on booksense.com here.)

Happy week, all!

My very best,

Victoria Moran