Of Book Signing and Bungee-Jumping

The other day I was telling a friend about the book signing that I’ve just agreed to do—details follow below—and expressing my discomfort with the prospect. At which she said, “Look, you’re not someone who runs around drawing attention to themselves, so you should just be yourself and enjoy it.” Good advice, which I’m now repeating to you on my blog, which is, among other things, a vehicle for drawing attention to myself. See how this stuff can make your head spin?

Anyway, I was glad to hear that my friend doesn’t think I’m a boastful person, which is rather sensible when you consider that the list of things that I’m actually any good at is roughly the same length as the list of recreational substances that Keith Richards has never ingested.

Part of the reason for my self-consciousness about this next step of life as an author is that the creative arts are endlessly humbling. The creation that you think is the best work of your life may be exactly that—for the audience of one inside your head. Whether it resonates with anyone else in the world is a total crapshoot. I wrote Believe in Me because it was a story that, once it began to come together in my imagination, demanded to be told. The same thing is in the process of happening now, again, with the next book, and all I can do is surrender to it and try to stay connected to the deeper truths that lie inside every worthwhile piece of fiction. But here’s the crux for the author: you have total control while the story’s still in your head, less and less as it spills out on the page and takes form, and none whatsoever the instant it’s out in the world. Since I’ll never go bungee-jumping, this will have to do.

And now, the business at hand: I hope those of you who are reading this and are in the Monterey area will consider coming to said book signing event, which will happen April 27th from 2-4 p.m. at Old Capitol Books at 559 Tyler Street in downtown Monterey, and will also include a short reading. So please come by; it would be fun to chat and sign your book and hang out, pretending like I’ve ever done this before.