What I Did the Day My Book Came Out
Hello friends!
So. It's happened. THE EXTRAORDINARY SECRETS OF APRIL, MAY & JUNE has hit the shelves! Hopefully you've been able to find yourself a copy and have enjoyed it immensely! Have you seen its snazzy webpage yet? www.extraordinarysecrets.com I just love it.
I've thought about writing this blog for awhile. What's it like the day your book comes out? This is only the second time this has happened to me, but for some reason, I was crazy nervous this time around. As you can see, there was absolutely no reason to be nervous...BUT STILL. It's crazymaking to have a book come out, which is why I was so happy that August 3rd finally arrived.
Also, I have a very fun weekend coming up involving a booksigning for "AMJ" right here in Los Angeles, so please don't think that I didn't have any fun on my big release day or that none of my friends remembered. Boy howdy, did they remember! And if you'd like to join us on Sunday, please do! The more the merrier! Oh, God, what am I going to wear?!
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 AT 3PM
DIESEL BOOKSTORE
The Brentwood Country Mart
225 26th Street, Suite 33
Santa Monica, CA 90402
310.576.9960
So now here's my little log of AMJ's release day. I hope you'll still respect me after reading it.
(PS You're all still following April, May & June on Twitter, right? Riiiight.)
WHAT I DID THE DAY MY BOOK CAME OUT - AN ERRATIC & NOT ENTIRELY RELIABLE TIMELINE OF EVENTS BY ROBIN BENWAY
6:55am - Wake up to the sound of sputtering coffeemaker. Decide that if coffeemaker breaks the day of my book release, I'll cry.
6:57am - Coffeemaker is not broken! HAPPY RELEASE DAY FOR "AMJ"! Bounce (well, crawl) out of bed and stumble into kitchen while still wearing sleepmask over one eye. Give coffeemaker its morning hug.
7:00am - Put on NPR and start doing French homework for that morning's class. Listen to a story about Roger Korman while conjugating -er verbs. Rely on Google Translate heavily. Practice saying useful phrases such as, J'aime une tasse de café and Voulez-vous lire mon livre? Note that I have been out of high school for 15 years and I'm still doing homework the morning that it's due. Pat self on the back for being so reliable.
7:23am - Receive congratulatory email from the awesome team at Razorbill that reads in part, "We are singing you our Happy Pub Day song, a song we will be singing to you all day long! It's a kind of Alvin & the Chipmunks thing and we do it in harmonic electronic falsetto--I'm sure you'll appreciate this." They know me so well.
8:00am - Read so many nice emails, texts, and Twitter comments about "AMJ" that I maybe or maybe not get a little misty and have to find a tissue. And more coffee.
9:28am - Drive like a bat out of hell while balancing a mug of coffee (cannot find travel mug in cupboard) and singing along with Florence + the Machine. Pass woman who is hula-hooping and singing into a microphone in her front yard. Admire her free-spiritedness while being very grateful that I am not her. Turn up Florence a little louder and start to do hand motions while singing along. Recognize the irony and recall Little Brother's recent text: "Remember, your car windows aren't tinted anymore." Noted.
9:30am - Find perfect metered parking spot and race into class.
11:45am - Learn how to say, "And that's why I drink," in French while roleplaying a scene between a drunk, an instructor, and a sad person who are all taking aquatic dancing classes at the local pool. French class has just paid for itself.
12:31pm - PARKING TICKET. $45 for being in the space too long, even though there's still money in the meter. Perfect metered parking spot is no longer so perfect. Start referring to meter maid as "Captain No-Fun".
1:16pm - Open kitchen cupboard and nearly get beaned by travel coffee mug. Found it!
2:20pm - Start doing interview for "How I Travel" over at bootsnall.com. Feel extremely unadventurous and apologetic for liking hotels over camping tents and for never ever EVER OH MY GOD NEVER EVER wanting to swim with sharks.
3:15pm - Receive first book stalker email photo from Mom.
"Just happened to see this at Barnes & Noble in Palm Desert," the email says. Note that Mom lives 20 miles away from said bookstore. Suspect that everyone in B&N now knows that her daughter's book is out today and that she is my mother and wouldn't they like to buy a copy? Or maybe they'd like a knuckle sandwich instead? Watch local news to make sure Mom does not appear on it.
4:30pm - STILL WRITING TRAVEL INTERVIEW. Guesstimate that I could have flown to Italy & back in the time it takes me to do interviews.
4:55pm - Receive second book stalker photo from Mom, along with accompanying email that reads, "Ditto Borders! YAY!!!!"
Borders has my book on the shelves, which means she is no longer boycotting Borders. They are no doubt thrilled to hear this news. Also, become convinced that she is the one who faced out "AMJ" on the shelf, since she has a tendency to reshuffle YA sections in favor of me. Decide that my mom is the bestest.
5:10pm - Get ready to post today's Song of the Day from the "April, May & June" soundtrack: "Glosoli" by Sigur Rós. Try to decipher lyrics before deciding that Icelandic looks like the Rorschach test of languages.
7:00pm - Celebratory dinner with Little Brother! Taco Tuesday at the Reel Inn in Malibu! Brother listens to country music on the radio. I use subpar telepathy skills to try & change the channel. We agree that we both dislike Brad Paisley intensely. "His head is too small!" I say. Brother replies, "Um, what?" This is how most of our conversations go.
8:45pm - Realize that I have still not seen a finished copy of "AMJ" yet.
9:00pm - Get a "Yay you!" phone call from best friend Adri, who lives on the east coast, where it's past midnight. Says she'll be up for "awhile". Start to suspect that best friend Adri is really just a very nice vampire since she never seems to sleep...
9:30pm - ...unlike me. Crash in bed with sleep mask, earplugs, coffeemaker locked & loaded for tomorrow morning, and two homeless men arguing outside.
What a fun day! Seriously, having "AMJ" published is a long-realized hope that finally happened on Tuesday. I love my book, I love my characters, and I love that people have embraced it so warmly. Thank you so much for all the lovely notes and messages and good thoughts. May they all come tenfold back to you.
