“I never minded reading to three people. I had plenty of experience. The key is that all of you must sit very close together.” – Ann Patchett, from “My Life in Sales” in the Atlantic
I’m on book tour with The Four Ms. Bradwells. That’s the good news and the bad. It means I have a new literary birth to celebrate. It means my publisher is optimistic enough to send me out to Ann Arbor, Washington D.C., and
Cincinnati, and booksellers are optimistic enough to set up chairs and advertise. More often than not, they wear pearls, and they don’t often have “the neck” any more than I do, which is oddly comforting. Booksellers are like the best of writers, except more generous.
But even in the best of circumstances, you fly into a city, an escort picks you up from the airport and takes you to a studio for a short gig on the News at Noon, a longer one on local radio. You check into a hotel and wash your face, then head out again for a reading. Maybe you have dinner with a book club beforehand, or a drink with fellow writers afterwards. You climb into bed alone. The next day, you rinse and repeat.
If there is time to write built anywhere in the schedule, I haven’t found it, and so the ache to get back to the as-yet-unwritten page grows too.
And yet book tour is a reminder of the generosity of readers, booksellers, and even other writers.
Sometimes an author you admire surprises you with his or her face in the seats, as Lalita Tademy has done at every kick-off reading I have ever done, as Peter Ho Davies did in Ann Arbor, Eleanor Brown in D.C., Therese Fowler in Raleigh.
Sometimes a spirited crowd shows you something you didn’t know about your book, like that the neck on your book cover is the quickest way to improve your own neck in a photo – especially if you have a bookseller like Sharon Roth Kelly of Books and Company in Dayton to help you line it up.
Sometimes the generosity of people you have never met before bowls you over, like that of all the people who came out to read from The Peach Keeper for Sarah Addison Allen.
And the warmth that comes from those who attend, the hopefulness in faces presenting books to be signed, is truly an amazing thing.
It’s a moment to pause and be reminded that readers and writers are co-conspirators, the writer putting her truth on the page and the reader bringing hers along as well, the mixing of the two creating the miracle that is literature. – Meg
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OK, that neck picture is hysterical!
Anjali recently posted..84
I love this dispatch. And can’t wait to hear more.
Enjoying your book tour! I’m assembling my own as a small press author – I’ll take your lead and post some comments about the various events. Best of luck!
The neck photo is great I just stood holding my copy like that while looking in the bathroom mirror. Looks good I must say. hahaha
Eager to read your new book because I am a University of Michigan grad. I expect to be back in Michigan later this year for some appearances in connection with my biography, “Elly Peterson: ‘Mother’ of the Moderates,” which will be published by University of Michigan Press. Much of my research was done in Ann Arbor because that’s where all of her personal papers were located. Hope your tour goes well.
Sara Fitzgerald recently posted..Phyllis Schlafly’s Child Care
Hey Meg!! I’m so happy for your new book. I can’t wait to read it. I met you at the Tucson Book Festival last year – I bought “The Wednesday Sisters” and luuuuved it.
I’m loving She Writes. Thanks for all you do on this site.
Lori P recently posted..Blogger Ball
Great to hear all’s going so well with your new book, Meg.
Thanks for organising another blog hop.
Deborah recently posted..Cross-Channel reading
I loved the Wednesday Sisters and cannot wait to read the Four Ms. Bradwells (I just started to type the Four Mrs. Bradwells and had to stop myself…interesting & making me want to read it all the more)
Wendy Kelly recently posted..Who Am I & Why Does Andes Cruz Want to Know
I think (hope) I’ve left comments on all your blogs. (Never quite sure when they don’t post immediately if I’ve done something wrong or if it’s just comment moderation). Thanks for all your kind words!
Doesn’t SheWrites rock?!
I *do* love She Writes! Still working on a blog post especially for this hop, but enjoying peeking into all these great blogs. Thanks for all the great writing support and community building.
Wendy Kelly recently posted..Who Am I & Why Does Andes Cruz Want to Know
Meg- I am so sorry I missed your Ann Arbor stop. Wasn’t feeling well that night. I hope someday to experience both the highs and lows of my own book tour but for now will live vicariously through yours:).
Kim Haas recently posted..Welcome She-Writes Bloggers
Sorry to miss you in Ann Arbor, Kim. And yay on your short story successes! Fingers crossed for a book.
I just joined SheWrites– thank you for all that you do.
I love the “neck” picture, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it an improvement! Their eyes are smiling, but their mouths are not. (I bet their real smiles are beautiful!)
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