It’s book launch week and a friend just emailed me and asked what I was doing about it. The answer is, not a lot. I will be blogging quite a bit; the blogs for next week are all written and sent off. I shall stop by a few local bookstores, drop off bookmarks and sign stock. On Saturday I have a reading and signing at my nearest store.
But otherwise there isn’t much I can do. The books are printed. My publisher has taken orders and shipped copies. (OMG paranoid nightmare! Suppose they forgot!) Starting Tuesday, The Wild Marquis will appear on shelves. I hope readers will snap it up, take it home and enjoy it. But there’s not a whole lot I can do to convince a shopper to buy my book.
Instead of sitting around obsessively googling myself every five minutes and checking my Amazon rankings, I have an agenda for the week.
• Buy a recliner. I wish to write the next book in a semi-recumbent position.
• Buy myself flowers. Tulips are gorgeous right now. And I’m not going to settle for one of those measly bunches of 5 (Didn’t you used to get 6? When did florists get cheap?) I’m going to buy LOTS. More than one vase worth. Maybe enough for three vases.
• Do my taxes.
• Go to the movies. I hardly ever see a film in the theater. I don’t know what’s current but investigating will give me something to do.
• Meet friends for dinner and hear about their lives.
• If I run into an acquaintance and they ask me what’s going on I shall shrug and say “Nothing much. Same old same old.”
OK, not so much with the last one. Not going to happen.
