A radio interview, a travel book, and a nothing day

I did it! After striking out twice I did a successful (at least I think it was) radio interview today with Barbara Hodges on Red River Radio. I shared the spotlight with fellow mystery writer, S. L. Smith, and as soon as we finished I ordered the first of S.L.’s Culnane and Tierney mysteries. The interview lasted an hour and covered everything from how we came to write up to marketing. Lots of fun. You can listen to it here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rrradio/2017/09/19/red-river-radios-no-limits-with-barbara-m-hodges

              Pat Bean is one of many delightful friends I treasure but have never met in person. We’re internet pals, this time through Story Circle Network. Pat has recently published a travel memoir, appropriately titled Travels with Maggie, and reading it I found out she is my kind of traveler. Having spent too many years of my life with a man who thought the point of road trips was to see how fast you can get from point A to point B, I was delighted to read about her meandering travels. And in awe of the courage, bravery, wanderlust, whatever it took for a woman “of a certain age” to set off alone, driving an RV, with only a canine companion, for a six-month trip of some 7000 miles. She stopped where she wanted to—state parks, RV sites, but never a motel or hotel—and if she liked it, she might stay two or three days. Some days her travel was only 60 miles, but she went as far as she wanted. As a reader, you get to travel from Arkansas to Maine and back to Texas, sharing stops in Mark Twain country, Carthage Missouri (takeoff point for the Mormons headed west), Niagara Falls. You can get lost with Pat in Logan Airport, picking up her son, and take a commuter train into NYC, a place she’s “always eager to visit and always eager to leave.” Me too.

My particular favorite stop was Chesterton, Indiana, and the Indiana Dunes. I spent many a youthful summer there and still treasure memories of Lake Michigan, especially when roiled by a storm, the woods, the dunes, the swamp (okay marsh, but we called it a swamp).

Birding is a big part of this travel book, and I, not a birder, learned a lot as Pat listed the birds she’d seen. I’d have liked to see more about Maggie the dog, but it comforted me to know she was there.

Writing a book about her experience is another act of bravery. Our travel literature is full of the adventures of men—Paul Theroux, John Steinbeck, Bill Bryson, William Least Heat Moon, Charles Kurault. Joining that all-male club didn’t faze Pat Bean for one second.

Let’s hear it for adventuresome women and their dogs!

Other than the radio interview and writing the above book review I didn’t accomplish much today. A visit to my doctor assured me that I am doing well and not malingering—comforting but also time consuming. I’d say I’m going to charge around and set the world in order tomorrow, but, alas, I have a dental appointment. Too late tonight for writing, but I do have a neighborhood newsletter to put together. Whoever taught me that idle hands are the devil’s work sure did a good job of instilling that lesson.

Launch day for Pigface and the Perfect Dog

Launch day for Pigface and the Perfect Dog

There’s something unsettling about launching a new book. It’s both satisfying and anticlimactic. It is, after all, the culmination of all your work for at least a year, often much longer. At last you can present that perfect (well, maybe close) baby to the world, and we all hope to do so with pride. I am indeed proud of Pigface. It’s the first full novel since my hip surgery, although I had written close to half of it before I gave up writing due to pain and confusion, months before the surgery. It was a joy, during recovery, to go back read what I’d written, and think, “Hey! This isn’t half bad.” At that point, the final half seemed to come easily. So this book is special in a way some others of mine aren’t.

But launch day is also anticlimactic. The universe appears unchanged by the big event in my own personal universe. I’ve been sharing the cover, writing advance guest blog posts, doing the things you’re supposed to do to announce your book. So what is different today, except that folks can now go online to order the book? I am not one of those authors who checks sales or author rank or any of that stuff hourly or daily, but I do hope for some sales.

And speaking of online sales, if you live in the Fort Worth area you might want to hold off. There will be a launch party, celebration, signing, whatever you want to call it—on September 21, from 5-7 p.m., at the Wine Haus, 1628 Park Place Avenue. There will be a cash bar, but snacks will be served, and I expect a lot of hilarity. Nope, no giveaways, no cutesy contest, no gimmicks—just come celebrate with me, enjoy a glass of wine, and snack on some great hummus and pita. Mark your calendar, though you can rest assured that I’ll remind you.

Launch day brought out a funny story. A friend has just published a terrific memoir, Travels with Maggie, about her six-month odyssey in a RV with her dog. She knows it’s there, but she can’t find it on Amazon. Several of us suggested she add her name when she searches, and lo! There it was. I remember having that problem with The Gilded Cage, because, alas, there are several books with that title. Not to worry, there is not another book title beginning with the word “Pigface,” though the first few times I searched for it, Amazon offered to sell me a pigface T-shirt. I thought it might be funny to wear to the signing, but it was pretty ugly. I’m still thinking about that. I can always use another T-shirt to sleep in.

So there you have it—the book is out in the world and will now have to pretty much make its own way. I’ve done the best I can, and now it’s time for me to turn to the Blue Plate Café Mystery I’m working on, halfway through. As with Pigface, I put it aside for almost two weeks now, and I’m hoping inspiration will strike when I go back to it.

One small request: if you read Pigface and the Perfect Dog and like it, please leave a review on the Amazon page. Two sentences will do, anything, whatever you want to write. It is an enormous help to me. If you didn’t like it, I can only say I’m sorry. You don’t need to tell Amazon.