Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Back to Earth

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, "Hands Like Rain" by James McMurtry on iTunes. So okay, blogging from the new studio is not quite ready for prime time. Yesterday was fully occupied with the book. Got another call from Ed Hoy. He wanted to let me know that the response to it in their showroom has been overwhelmingly positive, and they have a couple slots in their teaching schedule for next year, would I be interested? Heck yes! Got a poke from my editor on getting the supplies list to them for their website, I am sooo behind on that. Good thing I have a whole day dedicated to on-line work coming up. But I can't feel too bad--they don't have my book up on their site yet either. Everyone's behind. And then there's Borders.

Last night was date night and we went to Pura Vida for tapas and pisco sours and then on to Borders to look for new books (and pick up a copy of Ratatouille on dvd). With the mellowness engendered by a couple of pisco sours in my belly, I had the bright idea of offering to sign the copies of my book at Borders. I figured between my driver's license and the author photo and bio, I could convince them I really did write it. And I could bask in the public I'm An Author glow. Oh you know where this is going...

I waltzed in the front doors and sashayed over to the craft section. Glass, glass, glass. Hmmm. where's glass? Oh there it is, the little section squashed between jewelry and something else. Not very many books in it, and certainly not one of mine. Somewhat chastened, headed for the computer to look it up. Huh. Still in pre-order status. Well they need to fix that! Strode boldly to the info desk and asked the young man when the book would be in! He tapped and he typed and he peered intently at the screen. Where else have you seen it, ma'am? Well, Amazon and some local Barnes and Nobles have it listed as in. Hmmm. Regretfully he informed me that he couldn't even find a Border's number associated with that particular book so they probably weren't even going to be carrying it. Not carrying it! But I could order a copy for you and you could pick it up when it comes in. Sniff. Shoulders slightly hunched, I slunk over to the new hardback books table to drown my sorrows in a new book or three.

Books are always good for whatever ails me. Jezebel grabbed my attention--as much for the beautiful cover as for the content (I am a sucker for neo-classical paintings. My favorite being Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Léon Gérôme). On the way home Dave consoled me with the idea that they would probably carry my novel, if I wrote one. And heck, I've already written one book so how hard could the second one be? Isn't that what young couples say to convince themselves that a second child is only marginally work work than the first? Hah! I didn't believe that one either! (Well, I did, but Dave talked me out of it.)

Today I continue studio set-up--several hundred pounds of back-up frit to move--and I might even fire a load in Big Bertha. Tomorrow, studio blogging for sure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've been very disappointed in Borders recently, as they don't seem to carry a number of books that I'd want to pick up. It's too bad about your book, though. Our local Borders has a huge crafts section...