When The Ceiling Hits The Floor

The Hope-in-the-Mail house got torn down this week. 

I admit it--I cried.

Which was surprising to me. For most of the time we rented it, I just wanted to move. Mark has always said that we'd look back on the place as our honeymoon cottage, but after being crammed inside 400 sq. ft. with two kids and two dogs, after too many gunshots in the neighborhood and drug addicts on our porch, after recurring mold on the walls and leaks in the roof, I disagreed.  

When we finally moved out, other tenants lived there for a while, and then the house went vacant. Got boarded up. Sat for years, crumbling.

Somewhere along the line I started calling it the Hope-in-the-Mail house because it's the place we came up with that saying. It's the place we learned to let the manuscripts we'd mail off to New York buoy us through our workday. It's the first home our kids knew, and the place I wrote the first six Sammy Keyes. 

Shortly before demolition. That's the ceiling on the floor.

Mark and I went to witness the demolition. I don't know why. Maybe to say goodbye?

What I know for sure is, I would rather work from dawn to dusk building something than watch someone else's work be torn down. There's something terribly sad about seeing anything--even a crumbling house--destroyed. It brings into sharp focus how temporary our efforts, our accomplishments, our lives are.

The guy operating a skip loader recognized me. He's done work at the house we now live in. A house much different than the one he was tearing down.

I was already kinda weepy from watching the crew work. "You're probably wondering what my fascination with this house is," I sniffed."People who know where we live now usually jump to wrong conclusions. This is where we started."

He was surprised, but got it right away. "Did you live here with the kids?" he asked.

I nodded. "Until they were six and eight."

He smiled. "I may own my own business now, but when I was eight, I was a Chicklets boy."

"No kidding?" I asked, because if you've ever been just south of the California border you know exactly what that means. He's come a long way from that life--I'm imagining a real hope-in-the-mail story, one I plan to follow up on.

Mark and I left shortly after that. Neither of us wanted to watch any more. But after we got home I started kicking myself about the mailbox. 

Why didn't I take the mailbox? 

It was right there, bolted to the stucco wall of the porch. Ugly. Old. Metal. Full of spiders.

I wanted that mailbox!

I tried to track it down by phone but it was already gone, which is probably for the best. It's had a good life. A useful life. 

And really, in the end, it's not the stuff that matters. It's the intangible things we bring to a situation, and what we learn and take away. I learned a lot in that little house. About who I am and what I believe and what kind of person I want to be.

It's not the mailbox that's important.

It's the hope that flowed through it. 

Sammy Keyes "Goodbye" Party

Big apologies for being over a week late with this. My PC blue-screened me, and I have been struggling to get coordinated with a new system -- the pictures have been the big problem. But here are a few from the party, and a little summary. 

I still almost don't know where to start because the whole evening was like the coolest dream ever. An enormous amount of planning went into the event. We contributed what we could, but the Puyallup Library staff pulled off a night I'll never forget--full of surprises and such good energy that I know nothing could possibly top it.

We arrived at the Liberty Theater about an hour before the doors were supposed to open so we (the family band, Risky Whippet) could run through the 6 songs we were going to perform with some first-time Whippettes (who included editor Nancy, agent Ginger, RH sales rep Deanna, and seasoned Whippette and friend Carol).

The evening's house band (whose bass drum sported a Darren Cole & the Troublemakers logo) was running behind with their setup, so we went to an upstairs room where we ran through the set acoustically one time. That's all the back-up team got--but they did great when the boas and sunglasses went on and lights came up!

First, though, there was the filing in of hundreds of people, the guest book sign-in, the Sammy Keyes puzzle doing, and the handing out of free books to those sporting Sammy-style shoes....

A sort of mid-stream photo shoot with me and guests happened organically. Some have been uploaded to the Sammy Keyes Books facebook page (where we hope more pictures will appear before too long..)

After meeting people and mingling for a while, the library director, Tim Wadham, got up and made some introductions, and then it was time to see the Sammy Keyes documentary.

I wish I could tell you everything about the documentary, but it felt kind of like a dream, and then it was over. Some of the people we videoed during the Southern Loop of the tour were in it. (We sent them the footage and they used some of it, which was so cool.) It was like seeing friends pop up unexpectedly to say hi. My understanding is that some of the video they took at the party will be added to the documentary for the final cut. I'll keep you posted on the wheres and whens of being able to see it. Not sure right now!

After the documentary came the interview, which was conducted by a man who really is larger than life. His name is Walter Mayes and he has a personality and heart to match his six-and-a-half foot frame. I met him at a function in...maybe San Diego?...when I was a brand new author. I was by myself at some social thing and he came booming up to me with an enthusiasm that made me want to hold on and not let go. He gushed about How I Survived Being A Girl and was just so warm and effusive. He has a long history inside publishing and once you meet him, you don't forget him. He goes by Walter-the-Giant-Storyteller and he did a story time for little kids at the Puyallup Library the morning before the Sammy Keyes Party, which we adults all attended and loved. He did voices and sang and projected enthusiasm across the expansive library, and Mark and I are still singing his version of Wombat Stew.

Anyway, many months ago Tim arranged for Walter to be the MC at the party, and Walter conducted an onstage interview with Nancy and me which included a booming (and quite adorable) rant about why he was refusing to read the last Sammy Keyes book. (NO! I REFUSE! IT CANNOT END!)

After that, it was time for Risky Whippet and the NY Whippettes to get up and make some noise. It didn’t take but a song for the boas to be swaying and “my girls” to be having some fun. The songs we did were:

            Knock on Wood (dedicated to Sammiacs)

            Chain of Fools (the Marissa and Danny song)

            Birthday (Beatles' version, for birthday people—I had a picture in my head of a bunch of birthday people jamming around onstage with us, but the kids that came up were mostly terrified.)

            Burning Down the House (dedicated to Sammy)

            Love Comes to Town (a U2 song dedicated to Heather)

            The Sammy Keyes Song – this had a conga line break near the end of it where the Whippettes and I all came off the stage and formed a line with anyone who wanted to join in (and some I grabbed from the aisles and, uh, encouraged). The line snaked up and down the aisle and then ended in the “Sammiac mosh pit.” It was my favorite!

I was so busy that I didn’t get any of the food, but they served some of Sammy’s favorites, including mac’n’cheese with a dollop of salsa, and chocolate chip cookies. People ate while we signed books—we being me, Nancy, and Dan Yaccarino—who all inked copies of Kiss Goodbye, with Dan adding a Sammy drawing. These are so cool! I bought one each for myself and the boys, ‘cause I doubt the opportunity will ever arise again.

And we signed shoes. Lots of shoes. Clean ones, stinky ones…once that started, it was a little nuts, but also fun.

The party itself was overwhelming for me—having all those kids in Converse was awesome, but seeing people who had traveled great distances to be there was moving in a way I can’t describe. There were the people I knew, and then there were the people who know me through Sammy. One grandmother from Indiana met up with her granddaughter from New Mexico in Washington state because they have shared Sammy Keyes stories since the granddaughter was young. (She is now in college.) How awesome is that? And my cousin sent up a blanket that just blew me away--all the hardcover book jackets woven into a gorgeous throw. I just wanted to hold on to it all night.

I hoped that the party would be a night for everyone to remember—I had no clue how unforgettable it would be for me.  Enormous thanks to Tim Wadham and the Puyallup Library for everything they planned and arranged—not just for the Sammy Keyes Goodbye party, but for the entire Festival weekend. It was awe-inspiring, and a shining example of how a library can so positively impact its community. I’m still shaking my head in wonder

Tour Schedule, Northern Loop

Drum roll, please!

After months of planning we have northern loop Road Show dates ready to share! So if you're in...

California!

Oregon!

Washington!

Idaho!

Montana!

North Dakota!

Minnesota!

Wisconsin!

Illinois!

Iowa!

Nebraska!

Wyoming!

 or Utah!

...check the roster for a stop near you!

I want you to know that we did everything we could to get to the places people requested (and some of those were definite sidetracks from logical routing, but in the tradition of this "Goodbye" for Sammy Keyes, that seemed more than appropriate).

On the roster you'll notice the Puyallup Book Festival. This Festival has two exciting days planned. 

The first one (Friday, 10/3) is billed as "An Evening of Teens, Books, and Rock 'n' Roll." Mark will be one of the featured YA authors, and it looks to be an awesome event with Santana drumming legend Michael Shrieve.

The second night (Saturday, 10/4) is the Goodbye Party for Sammy Keyes (aka Sammy-con!), and the plans for the night keep getting better and better! I will post about it separately, soon!

For now I'm going to leave you with our "War Room Map" which has been taped to the wall of our office since we started planning the first loop almost a year ago. (Green squares were the Southern Loop, orange is the upcoming Northern Loop.) I've really come to love this map. Our son pointed out that the roads look like arteries and veins and capillaries, and they give it the feel of being alive. Creepy, maybe, but I think it's cool.

Putting together this tour was tons of work, but now that we have our stops, dates, and finalized route, I'm excited for September, and especially excited to find out...who's coming to see us?

Tour, Week 2 (Texas Big Hair & Other Random Thoughts)

I "Booked" a lady working the gas station's deli counter today. She seemed a little tired. Like she could use a random act of kindness.

In return I got the biggest baked potato I've ever seen, and a smile to match.

I love Booking people. It just makes my day!

One girl I Booked outside a restaurant messaged me after realizing that I was the author of one of her favorite books. I was already gone. Whoosh! I'm like a ninja gifter--swift, and maybe a little scary.

Probably a lot scary.

I know I was to the family trying to eat donuts in the 70/70 (temp/humidity) Texas morning outside Round Rock Donuts in (you got it) Round Rock, TX. When I Booked 'em there were donut bits lingering on chins and big bites halted mid-squish.

At least nobody choked.

There was a woman in a gas station/food mart bathroom that looked like she could use a cheering up, but somehow getting Booked in a bathroom seemed like it might not go over too well.

(I'm chuckling here, thinking about handing one under the stall divider. Yeah, that would be a little psycho, even for me.)

Other random thoughts, to share with you, my blogettes...

I understand why a lot of Texas women sport big hair. It's not just to keep with the "everything's bigger in Texas" motto. Uh-uh. It's the humidity. You should see my hair. Limp-Locks here has Texas-sized hair. It's up and out and proud. Like a head of six-shooters sticking out every which way, ready for action.

(There's no taming Texas hair. Just go with it, girls. You fight it, you will lose.)

The guy who announced us at BookPeople in Austin was crazy. (Random thoughts, I tell you. Don't expect segues!) He stood on the table to announce us, and the introduction was so funny. And he instantly laced the Sammy Keyes shoelaces I gave him into his high-tops. 'Nuff said!

Laundry.

That's all.

Well, other than that it's drying right now.

Tumble, tumble.

Living out of suitcases is an art.

I'm in the finger-painting phase.

Still.

Toll charges in Texas are confusing, stressful, and unfriendly. No instructions. No booth people to approach for clarification. Just confusing lanes and flashing lights and honking horns. If we come home to tickets for toll violations, I'm gonna march my Texas hair back to the Lone Star State and have some big words with the Toll Rangers. Their system stinks.

And that is all for tonight! Tomorrow is a huge day, with 3 presentations and a long drive into Louisiana.

It is also our son's birthday.

The first one we'll have missed since his birth-day.

And before I get all sad about that again, let me say thank you so much for checking in, and good night!

Tour, Week 1

The Earth w/o Art is Just ...Eh

This tour is crazy!

Why did all of you know that before I did?

And I took such efforts to be organized, too. Why can't I find anything?

At least the store visits have gone well. Four days, four stores...and we have met some outstanding people.

And four Sammiacs! (Well, five, if you count one of the  moms, who was up to speed on all things Sammy, too.) I am so excited to have met them in person, and it was wonderful to hand off custom Sammy Keyes shoelaces and horseshoes.

And Mark's book has gotten a great reception, which has been wonderful. Booksellers pre-read his book because he was coming and seem almost surprised when they say, "I really like your book!" Like they weren't expecting a book about a band on the road to resonate with them. Surprise!

My favorite thing so far (besides meeting Sammiacs) has been doing the "Booked" giveaways. It's like reverse punking. You go up to someone out of the blue and give them a book. I've taped a yellow slip of paper (like mini-caution tape) to each book that says, "You've Just Been Booked." Then I've been randomly giving books away at intersections, rest stops, and gas stations. Our van is packed to the gills with stuff, but by the time we get back home it will be mostly empty. There are boxes and boxes of "Booked" books, plus all the stuff we're giving away at the book signings. It's a pretty epic sleigh of stuff!

I've also really been enjoying our "windshield time" -- just driving across our country. The scenery changes so much in fairly short distances, and I'm really enjoying soaking it all in. (I may have a different view of this after the next two days, because we're going through New Mexico and across Texas. And even I know that Texas is more than a few inches wide!)

We've been doing a jogging tour of each new location, and in Prescott (at over a mile high, elevation wise), I was a winded l'il sea-level dweller. I love doing a jogging tour of new places because you see things you wouldn't normally see just driving around. Like the welding place in the picture. I could build a whole story around that place, and I like people/places that intrigue me in that way. What's the story here? What's the back story here? Don't you just want to know?

Anyway, enough for now! I've got so much to do before we hit the highway early tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, and to the Sammiacs who came to the events -- if you want to identify yourselves by all means, comment away. I'm hoping to meet more of you next week...

Meanwhile, keep your eye out for the tour van--maybe you'll get Booked!

Ready Or Not, Here We Come!

Okay, we are just about set for the Road Show.

No, that's a complete lie. We are miles away from being about set.

And where are we going to fit this mountain of stuff we've got staged for loading into the van? The back seat it removed, but it's still going to be tight. We've got customized drum heads for each of the stores, a huge box of Sammy Keyes shoelaces (not to mention ten pounds of horseshoe charms to go with them), 20 cartons of hardcover Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls and 10 cartons of hardcover Swear to Howdys to raffle off at stores (and give away to random strangers at red lights and rest stops...can't wait for that part!). Then there are our (large) suitcases, plus equipment, a big box of books on tape and CDs (for all that "windshield time"), bags and bags of necessary stuff, a box of road snacks and...and...and...a hose.

Yes, I packed a hose.

(We're not supposed to take the van through a car wash. It's one of those super-shrinking kind.)

Really hope to see you at one of the tour stops, but if we're not coming to your area on this loop you can follow along.on Facebook at SammyKeyesBooks, and on Twitter at @WendelinVanD (for the "she said" perspective) and @MarkHParsons (for the "he said)-- we'll be very active there. Please help spread the word!

And now I'm off to find a giant shoehorn.
Or a vanhorn.
(Wait, there's one of those on the steering wheel.)

Anyway, ready or (like me) not,  here we come!

A Little Boost

I tend to throw myself into things.

Not Dumpsters...although I have been known to pull a Sammy Keyes with those, too.

No, I'm talking about ideas. I get an idea about something and before you know it I've thrown myself into it and work, work, work until it's a reality.

Name any book I've written, and that was my process.

The Exercise the Right to Read campaign was like that. Building the website, getting schools to participate, running the marathon...

26.2 miles? Whose crazy idea was that?

The "Pirate Party" was like that--something I did as a celebration of the "halfway" point in the Sammy Keyes series (which was for Dead Giveaway, which is pirate-y in a Billy Pratt sort of way, which turned out to be the 5/9 point in the series, not the half, but I didn't know that at the time).

Mark & me (and Valerie Lewis of Hicklebee's, San Jose)

The Pirate Party was insane. We rented a ship and cruised around the harbor with booksellers and librarians from all over the country. Nancy and my agent, Ginger, flew in from NYC. It was so much fun, and I gained a whole new appreciation for booksellers and librarians because they ALL dressed in "pirate" -- and totally outdid my costume (although Mark's was majorly awesome).

There was also the Flipped premiere that I hosted at a local indie theater. O-ver-board again! (And nary a pirate in sight.) I was on my hands and knees (as were Mark and Nancy) pasting down our own Avenue of Stars for the guests -- again, people who'd been supportive of my career over the years.

The stars from the Flipped movie

And now there's the tour(s). Good grief. Can I just relax a little? Do I really have to get the family van wrapped in books? Do I really have to make posters and fliers and postcards and do all the things I can think of to make the stores happy they hosted us?

Well, apparently, yes.

Maybe I am just a serial overdoer. Maybe I have an unhealthy need to please. Maybe I'm afraid of failure. There's probably some deep-seated psychological reason why I do the things I do, but there are also rational reasons. What contributes to this insane tour of independent bookstores is having grown up in a family that ran a small business. It instilled in me an appreciation for what it takes to make a small business work. It's not an easy thing.

There's also the matter of saying thank you. Sammy Keyes is (or soon will be) 18 books strong. Some of these booksellers have been hand-selling my work since Hotel Thief came out in 1998. I think a thank you is definitely in order.

Some of the stores we've called to see if they'd like to have us visit are, like, "Why are you coming to [Small Town, USA]?" It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't know you or understand that the awards on your books haven't put a barrier between you and remembering what it's like to balance the books of a small business. It's hard to explain the bit about 'thank you'.

The "He Said, She Said" Road Show Wagon!

Some owners are suspicious in a What-Do-You-Want-From-Me? sort of way.

It's been interesting.

And understandable, which is too bad.

Right now, Mark's researching Wind City Books in Caspar, Wyoming. He's super good at this researching stuff. When he's going through a store's website or Facebook pages, he often calls out things like, "I love this place!" or, "Look at this beautiful high ceiling!" or, "Check it out! They have a dog!"

(Indie stores: If you have a resident dog, we will come.)

Wind City Books looks like a cool little indie. So does Main St. Books in Lander. (Mark tells me they have the bonus feature of a coffee bar, and if you've seen our Spring tour routing, you know why this is of interest to him.)

We'll probably call these Fall tour stores next week, because we have to get that ball rolling before we leave on the Spring tour. Maybe they'll be suspicious. Maybe they'll be excited. Either way, we'll do our best to win them over and give them a little boost in faith that sometimes people just want to say "We get it," and "Thank you."

Spring 2014 Tour Schedule & Map

Here's the schedule for the Spring leg of the "He Said, She Said" Author Road Show. (We plan to have the Fall 2014 schedule--visits to the "north half" of the country--ready sometime this summer.) Hope to see you out there! (And please share with anyone you think might be interested!)

The Rest of the Story

Mark had his first book signing yesterday. It went really well--lots of people showed up. Some bought multiple copies. He had a good time.

Ramping up to it, though, was pretty stressful for him. He's not a horn-tooter, or someone who is comfortable imposing on friends and family for support. He's more the guy who's always giving the support.

In last week's post I mentioned that there is so much that goes into being an author that most people are not aware of, including first-time authors. A reader asked me to expand on that, so I'll give a little behind-the-scenes.

For any event to be successful, people have to know about it and it has to seem interesting or relevant to their lives. They have to want to go to make the effort to go. Even then, it's still probably only one in ten intendees who become attendees. Life happens, you know? Things come up. Homework needs to be finished. Maybe they're just tired. Or maybe the weather's bad. Rain (or, hello, ice and snow!) is big factor in people not showing up. Even wind has the power to keep people away.

The bookstore will do community outreach (or poster placement) to alert their patrons to an upcoming event. They'll tell the local papers about it and get a blurb in the Community Calendar listing. Other than that, a lot of stores rely on foot traffic and schedule signings when they hope it'll be busy in the store. They're busy, too. They have a store to run.

So for an author event to be successful, it falls on the author to help drum up interest in the event. This is way more work than you might think. Authors contact local papers & TV and try to get a reporter/editor or producer interested in covering the story. Authors write their own press releases. They supply their own photographs. They e-mail and call and (this one's key) follow up, and, if they're lucky, they get someone to agree to write a piece on them before the event so that people know about it and show up.

More often, press people simply ignore your submission. They're busy! They have deadlines! Their in-boxes are packed, and their voice mail is full! They simply don't get back to you.

Even with 33 books, multiple awards, and 2 movies, they simply don't get back to you.

This is where you want to say Forget it!. It is miserable and time consuming and maddening! But you can't give up yet. You have to keep trying. You have to follow up. You have to find an angle of interest. You have to go until you get a "No."

No can be such a gift.

Authors are also invited (if they're lucky) to guest blog on sites where books are the focus. But submissions need to be unique. You can't submit the same piece to more than one blog.

The goal is to have people who are new to you (or your latest title) give your book a try. Or at least find out more about your work. So if you go on "blog tour" you have to come up with some new angle for each and every site. Try writing a dozen unique, entertaining, compelling posts (500-1000 words each) on your book. You will be so sick of yourself and your book!

So why do it?

There are SO MANY new books out there every season, that unless lightning strikes for you (or a constellation of starred reviews showers down on you), you have to make the effort to pop through all those pages and be seen (and, hopefully, read).

But wait, there's more!

Authors are expected / encouraged / required to speak in public--conferences, schools, bookstores, etc.--and many of us have (or had)  a crippling fear of public speaking. Which makes sense--most authors are, by nature, quiet types. They spend many hours alone with their characters and created worlds. Behind a podium is not someplace they want to be. And without a podium is even worse!

I remember my first few conferences and school visits--I was visibly shaking. My voice was warbly. I was sick to my stomach. It was awful!

So, again, why do it?

It has nothing to do with successful writing, and yet it has everything to do with being a successful writer. It has to do with selling enough books to be considered by your publisher to be a worthy risk for an advance on the next one.

It's what we do so we can go back to our quiet lives and fictional worlds. And if it accomplishes that, it's worth it.

Ramp-Up to Road Rash

The "He Said, She Said" Tour (also known as the Road Show!) is almost finalized. I expect to have the schedule posted next week.

This week, though, is all about the release of Mark's debut novel, Road Rash. Tuesday's the big day! It's amazing, really, how much there is for an author to do that has nothing whatsoever to do with the writing of a book--part of that involves the ramp-up to the release of a book. One of these days I'll write a whole post on it, but for now, I just want to share the book trailer for Road Rash.

Here's the link!

It's purpose is to make you want to read the book. It also makes me want to play the drums!

How about you?