Even though I don’t have a full time job, or a family, I’m having slight difficulty keeping up. Do not confuse this with me being down, or depressed, or overly spent. Far from it. But the more people I meet, and the more projects I have going on, the more people want to know what’s going on between lunch and dinner, as well as what I just had for snack at 1030am.
So, tonight is a bit of a catch up for all the people I didn’t call or write back.
The event at Borders South Coast Plaza was more worthwhile than the previous one. Not because of attendance, no, I read a few stories to my aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, dad, mike from WorldHum.com and his girlfriend. And oh yes, one woman named Suzanne who actually came for the event, but left after I read about 1.5 stories. Maybe she didn’t like all the attention I was giving her since everybody else there already knew me. Or she didn’t like the smell of Judy Zimola’s “Aurora Borealis and the Big Boom.” I had to read that for the Blazing Saddle-loving men in my family. The two books we sold were to the two women who heard the last half of Felice Prager’s “Waiting for the Big O” as they stood and listened half way out the door. No, this was a true case of size not mattering. What made me feel good about this event was the exposure. Borders had a nice window display throughout the day, and nice solo shelflike display in doors near the mall entrance to the store, posters and signs in the window, and lots of books. South Coast Plaza has a heavy amount of traffic, so even if I knew practically everybody at the event and they’ll all be getting free books eventually, the exposure was well worth it.
On the lam?
You’d think I was running from somebody the way I’m town hopping, but no. I’m not in trouble as far as I know. In fact I’ve been paying off more debts than I have have bags to put in storage. Tomorrow morning I’ll be on a train for San Jose before the sun comes up. I’ll be in the Bay Area for two weeks. I don’t have a get together scheduled, but I also don’t have any burning plans to return before the end of the year, so maybe we should have a little drinky poo. Or four. I can’t seem to have a decent bender between all the driving I’m doing, and falling asleep after the second glass of wine. When and where should we hit the town? I don’t think you’re supposed to guzzle Mojitos after Labor Day, so I need to come up with something new. Get in touch if you’re game.
New Year’s Resolutions?
Andrew asked me if I had some of these yet. I can’t repeat my response, but the real question should be, what were this year’s? Now would be about the calendar time to get cracking on them. I’ve still got two months left! Wait…two months? I was just thinking about NYE plans. Two months seems like a long ways away yet!
Misc
I found a weird review of Laurie Notaro’s last book. Not even her current book.
“‘Fat Bride’ is skinny on the laughs” By Deanna Larson
It was like the copyeditor didn’t read the review. I thought she liked it.
“Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood, tie up too sweetly and neatly, but it’s coated with 100 percent pure delicious sarcasm.
And while some tales merit a mild laugh, others require a “depends.” “
—www.nashvillecitypaper.com
So, if she was wetting her pants, what’s with the skinny on the laughs header?
I thought the book was pretty funny. And I’m still hoping to include her in one of my humor anthologies someday.
Eric Hansen at Warwick’s in La Jolla
I went to this event on Thursday. But my grandfather told me, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Apparently Eric can’t gather much of a crowd right now, either. 15 including myself and the other two people I was with. I bought the book and to make the night worth my while found a lone copy of Sand and turned it face out. I’m juggling lots of reads right now, so if this one every makes it to the top of the stack, I’ll let you know what I think. He worked two years on these nine stories. Actually Eric has been writing about travel for thirty years. As I was sitting in the audience I kept asking myself, am I going to be doing this in twenty years? Thirty? Several voices in my head shouted “NO!” I know, never say never. But I want to have the kind of life that refreshes itself. I don’t want to be talking about my life a quarter century past at every author event. I hope that I have yet to experience the BIG adventure in my life. It feels like it’s still to come. I just don’t know what it is. Anyway, the best part of being in San Diego besides driving by or looking at the gorgeous Pacific, is hanging out with Jim and Leslie Benning. And I got to do that this time around. Holding my friend’s newborn was pretty special, too. And the movie Ray with the Leos moved me more than I expected.
So there, now you are all caught up on my weekend. I didn’t go to any Halloween parties. I didn’t even eat any candy. But I did go to the gym three times because someday I’m going to get on the cover of one of my books. 🙂