Big name authors, or at least those with the money and power of a publishing house behind them, get to go on book tours. Everything is arranged for them, from publicity to book-signings and talks.

Self-published authors, like me, have to do it all themselves. At home it has mostly ben arranging my own local speaking events and presentations at outfitter stores. But now I’m getting a unique privilege: I’m taking book back to where it was born, i.e., Italy.

Pilgrim Paths to Assisi is the story of my journeys on the Way of St. Francis, the modern pilgrimage path from Florence to Rome that links many places of significance in the life of St. Francis. It took me six weeks over three years to walk the path, the pandemic breaking things up. The book recounts the adventure and challenges of the physical walk, as well as recounting my lifelong fascination with, and inspiration from, Francis. The book starts as my wife and I departed Florence on the second of our our two (and my three) journeys to Assisi.

Starting tomorrow, Sept. 2, I have the. privilege of hosting a walking tour with twelve pilgrims, for Pilgrim Paths, a small travel company founded by my friend Sandy Brown, formerly of Seattle and now of Lucca, Italy. We share a passion for getting people out to walk these ancient trails and in addition share a love of writing–Sandy also writes guidebooks and I love to write travel memoirs. Since 2019 our interests have converged on the Way of St. Francis in Italy and I was delighted when he invited me to host this September’s group as it leaves Florence and walks to Assisi.

I’ve got an extra knapsack stuffed with books and flyers and will be distributing them to friends and contacts along the way, people I met before and new people that I’ll be meeting. I’ll leave copies in pilgrim hostels and B&B’s that cater to pilgrims. It’s a great opportunity to take my baby back to its birthplace! This is a book tour that I could only dream of as an author and it meshes with my dream of leading tours and sharing my passion with a group.

I also wanted to get Sandy’s endorsement for my book but it was not easy getting a copy to him in Italy. We finally got together two days ago in Lucca and I finally gave him his copy. Even though we knew each other for several years and had spoken together many times, we had not actually met in person until then, either. It was good to have lots of time to plan and talk about the future and make plans for what I hope will be more tours. And more paths to write books about!

Copyright © 2023 by Russ Eanes

Russ Eanes is a writer/walker/cyclist from Harrisonburg, VA and the author of Pilgrim Paths to Assisi: 300 Miles on the Way of St. Francis and The Walk of a Lifetime: 500 Miles on the Camino de Santiago.