We're out in Massachusetts, Day Three of Book Tour 2010 and I wanted to talk about The Postcard Ministry.

Those of you who've read Into the Beautiful North know about the tiny town of Tres Camarones (Three Shrimp) in Sinaloa. What you might not know is I based it on my dad's hometown of Rosario, Sinaloa. And I've got pictures!

Much of the motivation for Nayeli to take her epic journey is because of her sacred object: a postcard from her father. Thinking about that postcard, I realized that we don't get mail anymore. We get bills. And catalogues. And fliers. But when was the last time you got a postcard? Or mailed one?

So for those who come to see me on this tour, we're bringing postcards, already stamped and ready to mail. My hope is you will mail it to a loved one (yourself?) with your own words of wisdom, creating your own talisman. Or, you can address it to yourself and leave it with me and I'll mail it from someplace else on the road.

For those of you who can't come see me, send me an email and we'll send you one when we get home.

And for all to enjoy, I'm going to put up the postcards here, one a day, so you can see what they look like.

And then, I'm going to put up the pictures we're using in our little slide show so you can see the real people and places that inspired this story.

Cinderella and I are having a great time out here. Everyone has been very enthusiastic and supportive. Hope to see you out on the road!

X,

L

P.S. This is a picture I took of fishing boats in Rosario around 1980. Cindy made up the postcards