I know – I ALWAYS say I am excited for my talks, but I am ESPECIALLY excited for my two upcoming talks in December: The Brooklyn Heights Synagogue on December 5th followed right after on the 7th at the Center for Jewish Studies at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. I am excited for so many reasons.

I am excited because I have given this presentation 23 times… and each time it gets better. I analyze every missed beat, every part that falls flat, and I tweak it over and over, tightening it up each time. And after my last two presentations I finally figured out how to fix the 3 areas that have frustrated me all year. It’s already a great night but I can’t wait to see if I can make it ever better in December.

I am excited to go to Brooklyn because… well, so many reasons! So much of the book takes place in Brooklyn – at seltzer works, with seltzer men, and, heck, I even spend a few pages delivering seltzer bottles IN Brooklyn Heights, driving blocks from this very temple. So who knows who might walk out of the pages of the book and into the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue (and, no, that’s not a tease – I truly want to know). I also LIVED one block from this synagogue when I was writing the bulk of the book; so I’ll be speaking in the shadow of where much of it was created. And of course, because it’s local, I look forward to seeing many of my friends there.

And I am excited to go to Ypsilanti because it’s just so cool to say! And the Center for Jewish Studies at Eastern Michigan University has an annual Chanukah party – and I’m the entertainment. So this will be totally new for me. The audience will also be new – a mix of Mid-western and East Coast-transplanted older Jews (the later in the my wheel-house, the former totally new for me), and college students, many gentiles taking Jewish-themed classes. So getting to speak on a college campus to students will be new and great (and allow me to use material for the first time that the 55+ crowd wouldn’t appreciate) and get to speak to both old and young at the same time. And I love the challenge! Finally, I always love doing flavored seltzer taste tests – but this time we will be using a local brand as well, Faygo, which is new for me and fun to add into the mix.

And, okay, yeah – selling books in the week before the holidays… that can’t hurt either.