Blogging, Book Launches, and Snow

My friend, Dave Bara, tells me I should be blogging and maybe he's right. Here are my reservations about said method of communication:

1. I don't want do the "journaling" blog thing because I'm pretty sure no one cares what flavor of toothpaste I use and/or how it makes me feel emotionally.

2. I can never decide what themes or topics to cover or how what I write about them could come back to haunt me later....

That said, I'm going to give this a shot.

I had a book launch on November 15th and I have to say that it was pretty much an amazing moment for me. Twenty years since I submitted my first novel to a major publisher, fifteen years after I thought it would happen, I got to stand at a podium in a Barnes and Noble and pontificate, read, and take questions. The folks at the bookstore were awesome and really helpful and have continued to sell my book and push it in various locations around the store since. Sixty-five people showed up to that event, which I hear is an incredible showing even for a best seller. :-) Gotta love that! And I have to again thank everyone who attended for helping me to make the event so great!

The book continues to do fairly well, even before it has hit the shelves in many bookstores. Apparently, Barnes and Noble at least, sends books to their stores from their warehouse as slots in shelves open up. Their computers show the books on order, and yet they never seem to arrive, or at least the folks at the store don't quite no when. Fortunately, they can be short-listed which rushes them, and it seems that many stores do have them already. All that said, between that and Amazon, I think the book is doing great! Again, thanks to all who have read it or who will read it! So far, I'm getting great feedback!

One final note about writing in general. Despite this published book and some success, I have yet to attract or break through the barriers of the bigger or better agents who represent Scifi/Fantasy. Apparently, I'll have to do more to get on their radar; but that's a topic for another post.

Now about the snow. We just had a foot of snow in Seattle, the most they've seen in 18 years, the most I've seen since I moved here in 1995. Here's a personal tidbit. As a Bostonian, I take pride in being able to get my car out of a snow covered driveway and to drive in any conditions. So, this morning, I shoveled out a path behind my car up to the street, including a ramp at the end up to the extra 6 inches of "pavement" caused by crushed snow. I warmed up the car, climbed inside and hit the gas. The tires spun and caught; the car lurched backwards! The ramp worked like a charm; the car made it onto the street, tires still spinning and catching, spinning and catching. As the front end hit the road, finally, I jammed the breaks and turned the wheel. The front end slid around and came to a stop facing the direction I wanted to go. I rammed the shift into drive and gunned it; fish-tailing forward and finally heading towards the main roads.... oh yeah... now THAT was fun!

All right, that's all for now! Until next time;

Dave Page