Good Guys
My second novel, Good Guys, publishes next month! Already advance review copies are making their way in the world, some bundled with a copy of The Boat People.* Publishers Weekly gave the novel a glowing review. Indigo named Good Guys one of their “Most Anticipated Books,” meaning you can pre-order from them for only $20. I’ve been invited to a couple of festivals and earlier today, I recorded a podcast interview. Slowly, surely, things are ramping up.
My second novel, Good Guys, publishes next month! Already advance review copies are making their way in the world, some bundled with a copy of The Boat People.* Publishers Weekly gave the novel a glowing review. Indigo named Good Guys one of their “Most Anticipated Books,” meaning that until Monday, December 15, you can pre-order from them for only $20. The launch party is scheduled for Friday, January 23 (7:30pm at Bannerman Brewing on the second floor. All are welcome!). I’ve been invited to a couple of festivals and earlier today, I recorded a podcast interview. Slowly, surely, things are ramping up.
Since the pandemic put an end to The Boat People’s promotional schedule, I’ve been a writer. Which is to say a person who writes, indoors, quietly, alone with her imaginary friends, her pens and post-its, and colour-coded plot outlines, occasionally in conversation with other writers, the select few who are invited into the private sanctum of a work-in-progress.
It seems to me that being a writer is very different from being an author. An author is a person in the world — on stage, at a signing table, a guest at your book club, behind a microphone, being interviewed. An author is an actor, performing the role of artist and consummate host. Welcome to my book. I wrote it just for you.
An author is a cog in the machine of capitalism. That’s a statement of fact, not cynicism. I’m thrilled to be a cog in this particular wheel. What a privilege to be an author! But all of this, selling a product, being a product, is miles away from writing and after five years, my authorial skills are rusty. During this morning’s interview, I could hear myself stumble and struggle to articulate myself. Iris Murdoch’s name escaped me. (Sigh). It’s sort of like riding a bicycle for the first time in years. I used to be really good at this but at the moment I’m wobbly. Eventually this ride will feel like second nature though, right?
* Good Guys and The Boat People are very, very different books but they have shared DNA, and in hindsight I realized there was unfinished business in The Boat People that I completed in Good Guys. I’m curious to know if readers catch the link.