The Chase and the Catch

So many wonderful things going on this week that I’m kind of in sensory overload. I’ve been trying to keep my head down and get business done, but it’s hard to do that when I lift my head to find all my childhood dreams coming true as I debut as a fantasy author with some of my own art in the book to boot. I honestly never thought I’d see the day, even as I spent my life preparing for it; never thought I’d catch my dreams, even as I spent my life chasing them. Life isn’t supposed to be about the catch, it’s supposed to be about the chase.

That’s something I think about a lot these days, and something I may delve a little deeper into in some future blog. At the moment, I have quite enough other topics to keep me busy for some time. I have blogs planned to discuss the incredible launch party my buddy Jay Franco threw me last week, as well as try to describe the emotional wave I was riding on Tuesday as the book launched and I went from store to store, seeing the displays and trying to convince myself it was really happening as I signed the shelf stock. I also owe some of my longtime readers the third installment of my Writing to Sell series, not to mention an essay on stepsheeting. I haven’t forgotten, I promise.

Lots of other additions to the site planned, as well, including a number of new Excisions, lots more pictures for the Creations page, and more permalinks to interviews and reviews on the News page. I added a bunch of those today, and have a ton more to do.

Today’s fun was more signing, though it was in the privacy of my own home. Patrick over at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego, CA was one of my earliest US supporters, and he and Maryelizabeth Hart (co-owner of MG) showed immense faith in me by asking that I sign their entire stock of The Warded Man. I was more than happy to do it, even when (especially when!) I learned that the stock they ordered was HUGE! They sent me the books to sign, and have UPS coming to pick them all back up. I think I signed more books today for that one store than I did at all the stores I visited on the island of Manhattan on Tuesday, and that was pretty much ALL of them.

I also answered  a ton of mail,  and had some discussions with my publisher about The Desert Spear, which I will discuss here once things are a little more finalized. I’m kind of beat, but there are a few things I want to note to readers before I pass out for the night.

At the top of the list is the amazing article run by the Journal News on Tuesday, the day The Warded Man launched in the US. The Journal News is a mega-paper that snapped up all the local papers in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. It services a pretty big and populous area, but maintains a kind of local paper feel that is really comforting to people.

The article ran partially because of my mother, who loves to tell everyone about her son the writer, including Heather Salerno, a Journal News reporter who interviews a lot of local celebrities. Heather was impressed with my story, and the fact that I grew up a Westchester NY boy and in many ways remain one at heart even after 12 years in Brooklyn. She came out to interview me for an article that she said would run on my launch day.

What she didn’t say was that it would be the lead article in the lifestyles section of the paper that day, and that my picture would take up 2/3 of the front page! Talk about surreal.

Also, check out my radio interview on the show Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib. This interview was conducted at NY ComicCon on my 36th birthday, February 8, 2009. Sohaib and I were both moving a little slow that morning on the third day of the con, especially after the Saturday night parties, but despite that, I think this was a really great interview. If the embedded player doesn’t work, you can also download the interview as a .wma file.

In other news, Del Rey books puts out a monthly newsletter called DRIN, and I was asked to write a short article for their March issue. You can see that article, a brief essay about Wards, and the system of magic used in the Warded/Painted Man series, here.

Last but not least, Aidan Moher at A Dribble of Ink just posted a review of The Warded Man on his site today. You may recall that Aidan posted a lengthy interview with me a couple of weeks ago. Looks like I charmed him into reading the book. Read the interview here, and maybe I’ll charm you, too!

Posted on March 13, 2009 at 1:26 am by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Events, Interviews, Life, Musings, Reviews, Sales, Writing
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