At the End of the Day

Several interesting things happened at yesterday's signing.

--One child wanted to buy the book but his mom said it was too much money, so he said, "I can get it for my Nook and it will be half the price, so that's what I'm going to do when I get home." Interesting . . . parents with voracious readers . . . yeah, I can see the sense in that, for sure.

--Three adults (none aspiring writers) asked about e-books and whether my books were on them and so on. None of them owned one. Guess they were curious.

--Two adults insisted they will never (ever, ever) get e-books because they like the whole thing about having stacks of books around. And one mom insisted her kids will not ever either because "What will you SIGN for them?!?!"

--Only met two people who had e-readers. One had it on her phone and only used it to read at soccer games or what have you with her kids.

So there you. Unscientific, but interesting.

Other very interesting thing . . . got into a discussion with the store's staff who said the Nook's self-pubbing service was something "interesting," but from what they saw the quality of most of the self-pubbed books was so miles away not there. I talked about being a book editor and so on. And we all said . . .

AT THE END OF THE DAY, regardless of format, it will remain about pacing, tension, dialogue, etc. (they called it good, old-fashioned talent). And I discussed what a wild ride I see right now among authors/writers. And I pondered and thought . . . at the END OF THE DAY, the people who work their craft and end up with publishable books will hopefully bypass gatekeepers and build a little niche for their mysteries and thrillers and romances. And at the end of the day, those who really still have a very long way to go in that area of pacing, tension, dialogue, and motivation, will still find it a bumpy process until they master it, as I don't suppose selling all of a hundred copies on a Kindle to friends and family is what they envision--and if it IS what they envision . . . then that is awesome because the financial barriers are no longer there! I mean it! So it's a win-win, as far as I see. And those who aspire to much more . . . well, in the same way they used to pile up rejections, they will get feedback, reviews, criticisms, low sales, what have you . . . until they . . . you guessed it, write a publishable well-paced book.

So I tossed a lot of thoughts out there for Monday. What do you think?

Book Signing Today . . . Which Means . . .

I have to change out of sweatpants.

I'll be at Barnes and Noble on Commonwealth Parkway in Midlothian, Virginia, today from 1:30-3:30.

I like book signings for kids a lot more than for grownups. I mentioned this (at Mark's place). This is what I posted in the comments sections:

With one more element. Kids seem so GENUINELY thrilled to meet me/an author. To them, it is a little like meeting someone "famous" or something. They love to tell me all about their favorite parts of the books, who they would cast in a movie of it, that kind of thing. But I have never met (yet) a "jaded" kid who sniffed that my books were not highbrow enough, nor have I met a kid who said, "When I retire, I'll crank out the great American novel, right now, I'm too busy making money hand over fist as a doctor/lawyer/CEO." NOR have I met frustrated UNPUBBED kid authors who have an attitude like "So what makes YOUR book publishable and MINE not."

The dynamic with children is the love of a book. They bring nothing more than an openness with them to a signing, and so yes, for them, I am always willing to change out of my sweatpants. This also means I have to do something with my hair today. :-) [For the record, the older I get, the less controllable my hair is. I got some big "Jersey" hair going on lately. No offense to the ladies of Jersey . . . but I am a child of the 80s and that was what we aspired to.]

Which brings me to one more point. What I mention up there from my comment at Mark's is real. I have met every one of those adults at book signings. More than once. And I've come to the conclusion, which goes hand in hand with the "dialogue" about self-pubbing on the Kindle and e-books and the decline of book--real books on paper--that people bring so much of their own "stuff" to the dialogue that it ceases to be a dialogue. It's really just one person talking AT another.

For me . . . everything about the CRAFT of writing is not AT anything. "AT" . . . talking AT . . . to me brings to mind pushing. Which is why I often liken writing to the Buddhist Middle Path, or Middle Way, in which there is FLOW. You don't PUSH in meditation any more than you push AT someone or something.

Jon and I talked on the phone Friday. All anyone should be interested in is creating the best book they are capable of creating.

So after the signing?

I'll be back here at my desk. I'll change back INTO my sweatpants (but will have hair and makeup in place!) . . . and get back into my new middle grade proposal. 'Cause yesterday? I wrote six pages without even break a sweat . . . the voice is there. And that makes all of what I do worth it.

Thoughts? Namaste.

Extremes

My Real Life

Today was SUPPOSED to be a writing day. All day. But I was up all night (!!)--ALL NIGHT--with a croupy Dynamo Boy. (Still sick, poor little guy.) Right now, I look like death warmed over. Add to that . . . I was "starting" to actually feel like I turned the corner with Crohn's. Yesterday I pushed so much fluids (beats going to the hospital for I.V.'s) that I thought . . . "I'm doing better." But no sleep (did I mention NO sleep???) and . . . today . . . not so much.

My Fake Life

MONDAY, I leave to do a big signing at the ALA conference in Washington, D.C. Glam life and all that. I meet two old friends for drinks and dinner. I'm planning on touring the National Gallery (yet again!). I'm lunching with one of my beta readers. I'm strolling near the monuments. I'm signing books and meeting tons o' people.

Anyone else feel like life pulls them in extremes? Do you have a Real Life and a Fake Life?

Rock Star

I know very few authors who like signings. For every one that you have that is awesome, you have one where you are ignored except by someone who wants you to tell them where the bathroom is because, despite the table and the poster, they think you WORK there instead of being their to sign books. But yesterday, I felt like a rock star, and that's mostly because writing middle grade fiction totally rocks because the kids are so terrific.

I guess I could say I feel like a rock star over the Scrabble game, but I still think he's got something up his sleeve.

Book Signing Today . . . .

At this Barnes and Noble. At 2:00 today . . . .

And finally . . . I can't even say anything remotely snotty about the game. I'm assuming he's hoarding the z and q, maybe a few others. Both blanks. I'm kind of scared.

Cool Writer Moment #582

Okay . . . so I really don't know what number it is. But this cool moment brought to you courtesy of B&N, Commonwealth Parkway, Chesterfield, Virginia . . . and my daughters, who snapped this.

So what is one of your Cool Writer Moments? Or Cool Reader/Fan Moments?

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