Pub Date: A Tradition

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The tradition lives, but before we get to the required pub date reading, a quick link: Tess takes the <a href=” http://americareads.blogspot.com/2008/03/pg-69-laura-lippmans-another-thing-to.html”_blank”> 69 test</a>. (Get your minds out of the gutter!)

ETA: I keep forgetting to mention that I’ve been nominated for the Gumshoe Award for best mystery. You know how everyone says it’s an honor, etc., etc? Well, I always mean it, but this time I really, super-duper mean it: James Lee Burke, John Connolly, Charlie Huston and Arianna Franklin. Burke’s name is the one, in fact, that I keep expecting to see on every shortlist. I’ll add a link when I’m not so rushed.

I’ve been up since 4 a.m., done two signings and, by my calculations, have another 12 hours or so to go until my day is done. All my idea, by the way. I started at 5 a.m. in Brunswick, MD, in Book Crossings, a store that opens every weekday at that hour to provide reading material for the commuters who take the MARC line into D.C. If Terri and Sherrie, the owners (and sisters) are there every day, I can show up once. Then it was onto Spoons, where Kathy Harig of Mystery Loves Company sold books to the customers who now know I wasn’t just pretending when I camped out there with my laptop.

So, if I’m being honest – my pub date isn’t exactly like the one that Anne Lamott describes in BIRD BY BIRD. But – to borrow from the defrocked memoirists of our time – there’s still some emotional truth to it.

“I remember one year my friend Carpenter and I had books out on the same day. We talked about it all summer. We each had modest expectations. I had modest expectations for his book; he had modest expectations for mine . . . Finally the big day arrived and I woke up happy, embarrassed in advance by all the praise and attention that would be forthcoming. I made coffee and practiced digging my toe in the dirt . . . Then I waited for the phone to ring. The phone did not know its part. It sat there silent as death with a head cold. By noon the noise of it not ringing began to wear badly on my nerves. Luckily, though, by noon it was time for the first beer of the day. I sat by the phone like a loyal dog, waiting for it to ring. Finally, finally it rang at four. I picked up the phone and heard Carpenter laughing hysterically, like some serial killer, and then I became hysterical, and eventually we both had to be sedated.”
(c) Anne Lamott

Linda Fairstein has a book out today. I wish I had modest expectations for her, but the best I can do is hope that she doesn’t bloody me too much at the cash register. She’s the original blond goddess, while I am but a humble imitator. Even in my new trenchcoat.

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16 thoughts on “Pub Date: A Tradition”

  1. I’ve sent that exact paragraph from BIRD BY BIRD to friends on pub date day because I think it’s hysterical (er, in 2 ways0 and, were I a writer, exactly how i’d behave (and it’s good Lamott, before she became boring.)

    Goddess in deedy – anyone not sure, just check the new book’s back cover author photo.

    L – email me please? I tried you but no reply and apologize for taking up bandwidth here, but am trying to schedule for Seattle IF you have time and will.

  3. Take your time, Keith… You want to make sure to get it just right.

    Laura, we’ve got to see a picture of this trenchcoat!

    Here’s a <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/2008/03/gumshoe-awards.html”>link</a> to the Gumshoe Award announcement.

  6. The magic of tape, my friend.

    Linda was profiled in the Washington Post and appeared on the Today Show yesterday. I _am_ smoked. And the horrible thing is — she is so nice, much nicer than I will ever be.

  7. In my bookselling life I was lucky enough to help run signings for both you and Linda Fairstein, and while Linda was one of our favorite visitors, everyone at The Mystery Bookstore has always been just as glad to see you. You’re equally nice.

    And for anyone in LA, Laura’s doing a Lunch Date with Crime at The Mystery Bookstore on Friday, so come over and have lunch with her. Wish I could be there.

  8. You’ve always been nice to me. And you thrilled me last year when you remembered my name. Tonight I will make my first foray inside the Free Library’s main branch, despite having lived in the area for 23 years.

  9. Lois — we need a TMP handshake. (I favor smacking the hand to the forehead, in a big dramatic “I FORGOT!” kind fo way.)

    I try to be nice. But Linda doesn’t appear to be trying, she just is. An interesting quality in a former prosecutor.

  10. Linda Fairstein’s stuff is good and I enjoy reading it but your stuff is better. Really, it is.

    Wishing you much luck with the book launch! (Because you already have the quality writing and are incredibly hard working in the tour/marketing area and so the only thing possibly missing is luck).

  11. I think if you took a poll among crime writers, it would generally be conceded that I have pretty much sucked all the luck out of the room. I honestly don’t know anyone who has caught more breaks than I have. The argument could be made that I’ve been a bit piggish. In fact, when I edited this entry to include the news of the Gumshoe, I probably should have used what might be the title of my autobiography: Another Year, Facedown in the Trough!

  12. I’ve always said that publication day has become a non-event. Lunch and flowers from editors are a thing of the past. Glad I was around for them though. But you’re making yours an event and that’s great. I don’t know how you have the strength to do all this stuff, I couldn’t do it.

    Anyway, Congrats. I don’t think that last time out you got breaks…you deserved what happened.

    Linda Fairstein? Who’s she?

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