Reflection on a Mad Dash Across the Country

Jeff—Saturday

Peace has finally arrived.  Well, a peace of sorts.  I’m speaking from a micro-perspective, not macro.  In fact, make that through the teensy-weensy, itsy-bitsy frame-of-reference of my six-week book tour having ended.  Bye-bye Arizona hospitality, California sunshine, Colorado highs, Washington joys (I’m talking about the state), New York fetes, Chicago camaraderie, and Minneapolis snows.

It’s now just me and photobomber alone at our snow covered farm in subzero weather. Snug as two bugs in a rug…or moths in my favorite sweater.

Hard to imagine the blush is now off my new book, but that’s the way of publishing. You build up to the launch date, and hit the ground running amid (hoped for) grand reviews, only to sense the energy of the moment gradually recede as new books move on into the spotlight.  The trick is to enjoy the process, from start to finish, and draw upon those memories to carry you on into writing the next one.

In this case, we truly did enjoy our journey, in large part because of the friends we hung out with along the way.  To me, at least, that’s what writing is all about, “a wonderful way to make a life.”

Scottsdale: Barbara Peters, Thomas Perry and....

Tucson: Chris Burke & Becco

Pasadena: SK Rizollo, Ina Jaffe, Lenny Kleinfeld, Ingrid Willis

Denver: Mark Stevens took this photo

Orange, CA: Anne Saller & Anne Cleeland

San Diego: Sam of Mysterious Galaxy

Seattle: James Ziskin & Ingrid Thoft

Berkeley: Bill and Toby Gottfried at Janet Rudolph's Literary Salon

San Francisco (Corte Madera): Allison

New York City: Triss Stein

Chicago: Augie Alesky and the Karamitsos family

Minneapolis: Daughter and Donus Roberts

NYC: Triss Stein, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Radha Vatsal, Edith Maxwell, Nancy Bilyeau. Photo by Dru Ann Love

That said, I won’t likely be writing much for a while, because in ten days I head in for shoulder surgery, brought on by a fall I took on Mykonos last September, tripping over a wrongly placed chain.  Only my reflexes and a bit of strength from daily pushups kept me from a full frontal face plant on a concrete roadway, but the old rotator cuff was a casualty of the fall. Physical therapy hasn’t brought it back to where I’d like it to be, so it’s off to the world of arthroscopic surgery at NYC’s Hospital for Special Surgery on February 21^st.  Recovery includes a sling for 4-6 weeks, meaning that my posts for a while will be pecked out…as opposed to impeccable. J  It also means we’ll be missing Left Coast Crime—a major downer.

I did convince the surgeon to allow me to complete my book tour—abbreviated as is was—because writing a book without getting out there among the readers and booksellers is like missing your own birthday party.  The only condition imposed was that I keep up with significant physical therapy, so that I go into the surgery strong. The adage being “strong in, strong out.”

I should have followed another adage: “Don’t watch a You Tube video of your type of surgery.”  Curiosity got the better of me. If you’re the same sort, here it is, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Now, I’ve got to head off to the barn to see how my truck has weathered my time away from the farm.  My guess is a family of field mice has curled up around the engine block, and the battery is in serious need of a charge.  But soon all will be right with the world. 

Microspectively speaking. 

—Jeff