Last night, three boxes of Second Chance Dog: A Love Story arrived by UPS. Our driver, who knows me well know, said they looked like books, and I said they were author copies of my next book (under contract, I am sent a small amount) and he said “wow, that is exciting, congratulations,” and he shook my hand. He seemed quite impressed.

It was a telling moment. I stood there looking at my books and looking back on my life as a writer and seeing clearly once again just how much that life has changed, how much magic there is in getting your books, and how much of a struggle it is to keep that magic in my heart and soul in our world now.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was eight, it is really all I have ever wanted to be, and how lucky I am to have done it, to have made a living at it for so long. Still, keeping the magic is a challenge sometimes. Up until fairly recently, a new book was considered a big deal in the world, especially when publishing was more personal and less corporate. When a book came out, my editor  usually invited me into New York City for lunch at some fancy French restaurant, I was always the frumpiest person in the room. Often, he or she would give my flowers or send them to my house and congratulate me on the book and wish me well. If it was close to publication time, my editor would bring me a sheaf of reviews, a thick folder prepared by the publicity department. I remember the excitement of traveling into the city, meeting my editor, waiting to be personally handed a copy of my book. It was as excited as I have ever been in my life, I remember it so well.

Publishing has changed, it is very corporate now, it is a business generally. There are no flowers, there is no lunch, there are no congratulations – just another book out in the world trying to be head amidst all of the media hype and clutter. There are very few  reviews either, most newspapers and magazines have stopped doing book reviews, the NPR stations mostly interview movie and TV stars and commercial television is rarely interested in anything that is not an argument, a murder or an explosion. For the first time in my writing career, I made the difficult discussion to forego a national book tour this year, my book tour consists of some local appearances and some radio interviews.

Mostly I will be here and on social media, giving away free dog food, free books (the new book tour) and hopefully talking about the book and the issues it raises.

My readers are online now, right here and reading this, and I am happy and lucky to be able to meet them here, and to have them at all. The reviews I have received have been quite glowing, I am lucky to have them as well.  Lots of people don’t buy hardcover books any more, some wait for the paperback, others read on e-book readers. Second Chance Dog: A Love Story will be published on November 12, and the pre-orders for it are very strong at Battenkill Books and online (you can pre-order the book at Battenkill and Maria and I will both sign and personalize it. People who pre-order at Battenkill are also elibigle to win one of 100 free bags of Fromm Family pet food. If you wish, you can call the store at 518 677-2515.). Maybe this will be one of those books that finds it’s market in the crowded new world.

As I was writing this, Random House let me know that the book has just gone into it’s second printing, three weeks before publication. That’s cool.

Still, those boxes of books felt a bit forlorn and they drew me into a bit of mournful reverie for the days when there was magic in publishing a book. When my books arrived yesterday I was conscious of the fact that if the UPS driver had not congratulated me, no one would have even noticed.

Maria did, she was excited to see the books, she demanded that she take me out to dinner and we did celebrate and toasted my new book in the new world of publishing. I am very proud of this book, it is the story of the journey Maria, Frieda and I took together during the difficult days of divorce, recession and the collapse of everything I knew about publishing. I saw once again last night that Maria is my magic, it was a wonderful dinner because we were together.

I do  not trust nostalgia, and I do not spend a lot of time wallowing in it, it just drains money from the bank. People who get older are forever missing the past, I am loving the present and the future, there is a lot of magic for me here. I love this blog as much as I ever loved any book, I love the words, images and poems I can publish here.

I don’t want to ever lose the magic of the book and I will devote a good portion of the day to considering what a special thing it is to write one and have one published – there are a million copies of my books in print –  and I will make certain that the magic of it never goes away for me. That is a light that ought to never go out.