“One day at a time, we can learn to lease the past behind,
One day at a time,
we can look the future in the eye,
One day at a time,
We can learn to live.”
– Yusef Islam, “One Day At A Time”
Tonight, my homespun book tour for Saving Simon picks up with a visit to the much loved Petersburgh Public Library in Petersburgh, New York (7p.m.), a small agricultural community about an hour South of Bedlam Farm. I am told the library is very precious to that community, and I appreciate being invited there.
I am excited to be going on behalf of my little orphaned book, and on behalf of Simon, I love speaking at libraries and the audiences in small towns are generally wonderfully appreciative, as they rarely see authors. Random House would never have sent me to a place like Petersburgh, it is not worth their trouble, and I suppose a mid-list writer like me is not worth their trouble any more either, so it’s a good fit.
One day at a time, we can learn to leave the future behind. Not too long ago, book tours were very human, very personal affairs. My editor would call before a talk or a reading, we would go over the book, discuss possible questions, talk about responses. Someone would call me whenever a good review came out, they would would read it to me, congratulate me on it, we would get excited about it together, because we had all worked so hard on the book and wanted so much for it. There were hundreds of requests, we would all sort through them – bookstores, libraries, TV and radio interviews.
A publicist would call, make sure I knew where I was going, how to get there, and to suggest a car and driver if it was at night or more than a few miles away, they did not want me showing up to a reading harried or tired or distracted. I suppose you could say I was coddled, and this might be so, but a book and a book tour were special things, to be appreciated and treated in a special way. I think this still happens to authors who sell more books than I do, and who make more money for the publisher than I do.
But it happens less and less, most writers do not get book tours at all, their publishers tell them to get blogs. Fortunately, I did that a good while ago.
My book appearance came about because the chairman of the town library board in Petersburgh is a reader of the blog and she graciously joined in my Orphans book tour for Saving Simon. She wanted to support my book but also saw a chance to get a speaker for the library.
I do not lament my life, I do not care for struggle stories, but I will say the thing I most miss about the new and very cold and corporate world of publishing is the lack of human contact. I have not spoke to anyone from my publisher in person or even on the phone in a couple of years, I really can’t remember the last time I had an actual conversation with anyone about a book of mine. I get myself places, if it is late or I am tired, I pull over and take a nap or Maria drives me, I figure out the talk and the questions, and I am good at it, I like it. If it is sometimes lonely, there is also the great satisfaction of being independent, of being untethered and authentic. I like that too.
In a sense going to places like Petersburgh – that is where I will be going on this book tour – will help restore some of the lost humanity I feel in being a writer, the feeling that came from being part of a publishing universe that cared about books and writing and writers, not only about money. Times change, and I am changing with them, I am much happier than I was when I was a big shot and had a big black car waiting to take me places. It is a colder process for sure, except for the talks themselves. They are not cold. I will GPS the library, stop at Battenkill Books and haul some books with me to sell there, every day I do things I never did before and never really thought about doing.
People ask me what the publisher does now, and the answer is pretty simple: They publish the books and mail them out. And yes, many writers are figuring out that they can do that themselves.
This morning, I woke up at 3 a.m. thinking about my book tour and my trip to Petersburgh, I work out the details of my talks myself, I have to figure out how they will go. I put on my earphones and listened to the new album by Yusef Islam, once known as Cat Stevens. It is a beautiful album, wise and reflective, just what I needed to hear as I enter a new chapter in my writing life – books are only a part of it now, my writing is mostly done here, on the blog, a forum I love. One day at a time, I know, I can learn to leave the past behind, one day at a time I can look the future in the eye, one day at a time, I can learn how to live.
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The first 2,000 people who buy my book Saving Simon at Battenkill Books, my local bookstore. will receive a signed photo postcard of Simon and will be eligible – as will all Battenkill customers – to win free food from Fromm Family Food, photos, potholders and notecards. We plan to hit the 2,000 mark and said past it by Christmas. You can also call the bookstore at 518 677-2515. The Orphan bookstore celebrates things that are orphaned, but come roaring back to life. We can also support independent bookstores, a precious part of our past and our future. Thanks for your support. I will report from Petersburgh tomorrow.