This week we look toward book tours and book signings and ask, “What is your most memorable experience of something that happened during a book tour, signing or presentation?”
Join ITW members James Conway, William Todd Rose, Linda Rodriguez and J. H. Bográn. You won’t want to miss it!
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James Conway is a pseudonym for a hedge fund insider and a global creative director at a major advertising firm. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/@ByJamesConway or JamesConwayBooks@gmail.com
William Todd Rose was named by The Google+ Insider’s Guide as one of their top 32 authors to follow. He writes speculative fiction that lends itself to the dark, and often surreal, realm of the macabre. For more information, including links to free fiction, please visit his website.
William Todd Rose was featured in TheBigThrill’s April edition. Click here to learn more.
Linda Rodriguez’s EVERY LAST SECRET (Minotaur Books), winner, Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition, launches 4/24/12. For her poetry, Rodriguez received the Midwest Voices & Visions Award, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award; finalist, Eric Hoffer Book Award, KCArtsFund Inspiration Award, Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. She is a member of Latino Writers Collective, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, Kansas City Cherokee Community, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime.
Linda and her novel, EVERY LAST SECRET, are featured in the April edition of TheBigThrill.
J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. He ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. José’s genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw in a twist of romance into the mix. His works include novels and short stories in both English and Spanish. His March/2012 release, THE ASSASSIN’S MISTRESS is gathering 5-star reviews.
It’s hard to choose among the various experiences I’ve had because I’ve been giving readings and presentations for a lot of years. At my very first poetry reading, the other reader insisted on going first. The host insisted she go after me. I didn’t care and offered to go last. The host told me he was adamant because at an earlier reading she had walked out after she read, taking all her friends (half the audience) with her. The other reader kept bending over to the floor, only to stand up again and throw back her long, long hair as they argued. Finally, she locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out until the host would allow her to go first. Too bemused to be upset, I went last and had enough people who wanted to hear me read that the audience hardly diminished when she swept dramatically out the door after she finished reading.
I think the funniest, though, happened years later. I was a founding board member of The Writers Place in Kansas City, and about six months after it opened, the poet Robert Bly came to Kansas City and was speaking at a brunch at The Writers Place. I was to be the emcee. Our board president, a talented and delightfully ditzy woman, ran up to me as I arrived, wringing her hands. She wanted me to present Robert Bly with a key to The Writers Place. “Like a key to the city, you know what I mean. But we haven’t got an extra key.” I pulled my back door key off my key ring and made a formal presentation of it to Robert Bly as the ceremonial key to The Writers Place, which he carried off with great pride to loud applause, never knowing it was the key to the slightly rusty lock in my back door.
Hi Linda,
I enjoyed both of your anecdotes. Poets can be temperamental, huh?
And giving away your back door key for a good cause is priceless!
José
I recently went down memory lane for a “made it moment” in a friend’s blog. It was an anecdote during a book launch. That was, by far, a moment close to my heart.
However, there was another incident that happened during that same event.
Back in 2006, I organized a book launch to promote my first novel in English—Treasure Hunt. During the Q&A portion of the program, somebody asked why—considering I was born and raised in Honduras—I didn’t write the book in Spanish. Well, needless to say the question struck a chord.
By 2007 my second novel—Heredero del Mal—was published and I was happy to report that this time the book was in my native tongue. During a similar book launch, again at the time of the Q&A, a person stands up and says: “Knowing your book is about a fictional grandson of Adolph Hitler, I can’t stop wondering if English was not a better market for it. Why did you write it in Spanish?”
My initial reaction was: Well, duh!
It feels like a morality tale, doesn’t it? I guess there is truth in the ancient saying that you’ll never be able to please everybody.
Here is the full address in case the link above didn’t show up properly:
http://www.jennymilchman.com/blog/?p=2199
Jose, that is a perfect example of “you can’t please everyone all the time.” I think it’s a common problem for bilingual writers. The perfect solution, of course, is an edition in both languages. Since that’s more expensive, most publishers shy away from it. Loved your “Made It Moment,” by the way.