The Tour Begins Right - The Far Right!

It has begun.  I am now officially on my US Book Tour.  I flew into San Diego a few days earlier so that I could spend Passover with my family.  Then we got down to business.  My first interview was a radio talk show in San Diego.  When I went to check the web site to prepare, I had a feeling it might be a right Christian fundamentalist station.  I, of course, am a very liberal Jewish, feminist, lesbian.  But I didn't worry about it too much because it was booked by my publicist who knew these things about me.  I was  wrong not to worry.

My brother Sam drove me over to the radio station in the evening at the appointed time.  The door was locked and even though we knocked, nobody answered.  We waited and waited until just past the time I was supposed to be there, and as I was leaving a phone message for the host, he showed up in the hallway, and let us in.  His name was Rick Amato, a nice guy, but most definitely not a liberal.  Or a centrist. He was all the way over to the right side. He sat down with us before the interview to try to figure out the angles he would use; he was sensationalizing everything, and wanted to talk about the lesbian thing (I didn't mind - I'm just not sure how relevant it was to our conversation).  He somehow wanted to connect my story to the ACLU guys and the CIA investigators at Gitmo and kept trying to make things fit (which they really didn't).  When he went into his studio to tape something else (for some reason, this was pre-taped, yet we still had to wait a while because we were not first on the program), I started thinking of ways to respond to him.  He was bashing the liberal activists, actually all liberals including the President, to the extreme.  I was prepared to tell him that the liberal extremists at Gitmo were no different than the far right fundamentalists who bomb abortion clinics and kill people; that it is the extremists on both sides who make things difficult for us, whether they be far right or far left.  Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

I was fairly nervous going in to the interview wondering if we were going to get into a shouting match.  However, in all fairness, it was a fine interview.  He did not bring up CIA, Gitmo, etc. He concentrated on my book.  He tended to sensationalize the epilepsy aspect, but that was okay.  He was going to do two segments, but extended it to three.  I think we had a good interview although I am aware of who his listeners are and hope that people don't show up at my reading picketing me because I am a lesbian (he did have to mention that, which was fine with me). He was great about promoting the book, and I actually liked him.  I don't agree with his politics, but then, he doesn't agree with mine either.  On the whole, the interview went much better than I had anticipated after talking with him pre-interview.  

At 5:30 this morning, my brother Sam drove me over to Fox 5 TV station for another interview.  This one was a little strange.  They had asked for photos of me, Chestnut Lodge, my family, which I had provided them.  During the interview, they showed the photos, but not in context and did not ask me about them.  So on the screen it said "Locked up in mental Institution" and it showed a picture of my three siblings, all under the age of ten.  It was pretty funny - they just rolled off the photos without any comment of who was in the photos, where they were taken, why they were on the screen...and the anchor and I just kept talking.  But this interview was good and they were truly interested in what I had to say.  The publicity again was very good.

I have another TV spot tomorrow and then my reading.  I will be very interested to see how many, if any, show up as a result of these interviews.  And why.

The Book Launch

Well, it's finally happened!  My book was launched at last.  And what a launch it was!  I was SO excited watching all the people come in, and then we had to keep bringing more chairs and more chairs as they kept coming. My wonderful dog Reenie was there to calm me down and she couldn't have been better; I figured that since her photo was on the back of the book (together with me) then she should be at the launch and maybe sign/paw a book or two.  She was as good as could possibly be.  

I was anxious to get started but we wanted folks to get a glass of wine first; people were in a very good mood.  Finally, my publishers, Carol and Richard, introduced me, and away we went.  I read two pieces from my book; one of just under fourteen minutes which was about the first time I was violently packed in ice sheets, and the second, a funny three minute one.  Likely it was a bit longer than that, because I had to wait several times for people to stop laughing before I could go on.  I loved every minute of it.  And then we did questions.  There were many and I thoroughly enjoyed answering them and hearing the comments although I must admit I was a bit embarrassed when three different people mentioned they enjoyed me more than Margaret Atwood - I mean, Margaret Atwood is my hero - I think she is a brilliant speaker.  I was on stage about forty-five minutes and then I tried to make my way to the book table to sign the books.  That took a while and there was a huge line - we sold well over a hundred books that evening. 

There is a lot of work involved in a launch and I know I couldn't have done any of it without the help of my sister Judi who is such a great organizer and took care of selling the books, and me in general.  My friend Janna was masterful at welcoming people and handing out wine tickets. My friend Julie took photos of the whole event.  Estelle and Derek were Reenie the dog minders (plus helping with just about everything else) and they did a great job with everything.

The whole launch evening was a huge high for me; I think I could really get into this - I loved reading from the stage, and loved talking to people one-on-one.  The night progressed, the folks went home and then so did we, happy, excited and well and truly launched.  The new adventure begins.

Above photo courtesy of Julie Elizabeth.

Waiting

I think the hardest part about writing a book is the waiting. Right now, everything has been done right - the book has gone to the publishers, the publishers have sent it to the printers, the printers sent them proofs, they were approved and returned and now.... we wait.

It took me years to write my book. Then almost a year to work with the publisher. All of that was great fun. But this waiting for the final product, ie, my book, is a killer. I never realized it would be so difficult. I am anxious all the time, waiting, waiting to see my book. On one level, I can hardly believe that it is true - that I am actually having a book published, by a real publisher, and not only that, but going on a book tour in ten days to the US and then another one in Canada in the fall. That's what real authors do! And I am a real author now.

This is likely the last blog I will write until I am actually holding my book in my hands. My launch is five days away. And then I hit the road. I will write about all my book readings - six booked now from California to New York.

But in the meantime, we wait. tick tock. tick tock. tick tock.

They're Here!!!!

The videos are out. Out and up on YouTube and my web site – both my web sites as a matter of fact (www.jaggedyears.ca; www.ruthsimkin.ca). I have been excited about the videos for a while, but there have been a lot of unexpected wonderful things happening because of them.

First of all, the videos – there are two of them. The first one is just under three minutes and is a book trailer video, which gives a sense of the book (The Jagged Years of Ruthie J.). It’s not really the story, but rather a feeling of the book. I made it together with the wonderful help of new friend Chris Wilson (www.FlipSideMedia.ca), an extremely talented and fabulous man (my dog Reenie thinks so too). Two other friends, Estelle and Derek helped out as well, and between the four of us, we did it all. And it was fun! The preliminary comments have been positive. The book trailer video has a partner video, one of my talking a bit about the book, what it meant to write it and how I feel about it now. We felt that the two videos together would give folks a pretty good idea of what the whole book was about.

My friend Phyllis Goldin (http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/PhyllisGoldin) wrote the music for the videos. When I first heard that music, it brought tears to my eyes, it was so moving. And the more I listen to the music, the more I love it. Listening to that music reminds me of just how incredibly lucky I have been in the friends department; I have the very best of friends and I appreciate every one of them.

So Chris and I finished editing the videos and put them on YouTube and my web sites and I thought that was the end of that. I was mistaken. First of all, I started getting emails from people, many of whom I hadn’t heard from for decades. Virtually all the emails moved me to tears. I heard from a lot of folks whom I really love, but heard from them in a whole different context than how I am used to relating to them. I felt like I had been given such an exceptionall gift, bringing me a special closeness to people which I so appreciate.

And then I started getting orders for the book. It is not even back from the printer’s yet, but the orders are coming in. I am delighted by this turn of events. Writing a book is fun! All of this that comes with the book, the publicity, the videos, the emails, all of it are extra bonuses to me, things I had never really expected. As we gear up for the launch in three weeks, I am beside myself with excitement; I wonder what tomorrow may bring!