Sunday, May 18, 2008

Everyday I Write the Book

So last night we went to see world-famous author, Rebecca Flowers, read from her debut novel, Nice to Come Home To.

I think things went swimmingly. Most of the chairs were filled. Granted, many of those folks attending were friends and family, but it was still a nice turn out.

The reading was at Politics & Prose. If you ever watch C-Span 16, you'll notice many of the televised readings that they put on are done at this store. Unfortunately, Becky's appearance was not filmed for television, but was audio taped for use later. I' m not sure how.

The poor moderator looked like he was just miserable as he sat in a wingback chair up next to the podium and table. In my mind, I back-storied that he sat there going, "what a bunch of crap! she gets a book deal and I get nothing and am stuck working at a bookstore and not even getting to introduce Chuck Palahniuk!".

It turns out he was just nervous as hell, as this was his first event. And he read the chick-like novel, which did surprise me. That he liked it didn't. Just getting a guy to read it is a huge coup.

The excerpt was good and the Q&A was just fine. I opted not to ask any questions. Many folks bought copies whom you would have thought had already acquired them - ourselves included.

We bought four (yes FOUR) copies ourselves - mostly for friends and family we know who did not have it. Naturally, we had her autograph them. Then the store brought a dozen or so for her to sign to they could sell autographed copies. That left her display looking a bit anemic (click on image to make larger) - but that's a good thing - right?

After the reading, about 14 of us (not including the 6 kids) went next door for pizza. Most of the folks I knew, but hadn't seen since Becky's wedding. And after that, Becky, Denton & myself wandered further into Adams Morgan for a drink and dessert.

The place isn't what it once was. It has gone from a bit of a cool hipster hangout to looking and feeling like every college campus main drag. Maybe we're old, but we were all ok with calling it a night at 10:30p. It'd been a long day for all of us. A long week and weekend, actually.

We'll do it all again, when Rebecca reads in the Cleveland area in about two weeks.



Song by: Elvis Costello

3 comments:

RJ March said...

I'm so relieved you didn't count the 6 kids-- they're so self-reliant these days anyway and can fend (if not number) for themselves.

Congrats to Rebecca. That's a mighty feat.

Anonymous said...

So jealous you get to spend all this time with the world famous Becca! I'm sure she nailed her reading - how cool you got to see that. And at P&P even!

rebecca said...

Thanks yins! It was a fun reading, made all the more special b/c R&D showed up. Were we really off the streets by 10:30? It felt like two in the morning.