News

It’s up on the New York Times website. Official in writing, on the web, BLOOD NOIR is #1.
I have to say that I damn near had a panic attack last night after I published the blog announcing it. Why? Because, I’m visually oriented. I hadn’t “seen” it, only heard it, so it wasn’t as real to me. I think I thought that talking about it would make it less real, or something. Funny, what issues you find inside your head.
Now, it’s in print, at least virtually, and I feel more peaceful. It feels more real, because I can see it. Weird, but true. How did we celebrate? All my friends, and family that we’ve told, want to know how we’re celebrating, or, they end by saying, “Go celebrate, or we should celebrate.” We should; we did.
They are cautioning me to celebrate, because they all know me. I tend to skip the celebration and get back to work. I admit that. But we did celebrate, honest. How?
We were in Phoenix when we got the news, and we had planned to celebrate that evening. Maybe we’d go out to one of the fine restaurants in town, or, well, so many ways to celebrate. My publisher would have sent us champagne but by now, they know I don’t drink. Roses do not travel on the plane, but my agent Merrilee Heifitz, made sure they were waiting for us when we got home. Chocolate, too. Hmm, candy and roses, cool. But that first night, we ended up not feeling completely well, and my mood was off. None of us, and that includes Charles, wanted to go out. It was, very much, a let’s hibernate feeling. By lunch the next day, I was ready to celebrate. I was ready to let myself enjoy the news. Of course, I would pick a time when we had a day full of interviews and a signing that night, so there was no time to do it up big.
Our driver, David, found us a nice restaurant nearby after we had finished a stock signing, at The Bent Cover. Hello, to Rob and Baby. Thanks for the icy mocha. Charles got to go book shopping while Jon and I signed stock. He found several books that were out of print and he was very happy to find. (Neither Jon, nor I, remember the book titles. We’d have to call Charles at home and ask. Since we just dropped him off to his wife and kids yesterday, I think we’ll wait to call and ask about the books.)
But back to lunch; it was P.F. Chang’s, which is a restaurant chain, but still lovely for all that. David dropped us off, and the three of us had lunch. We drank a toast to the good news, with our tea of choice. The food was good, the conversation entertaining, and I finally began to relax, and let myself enjoy the good news. Then, we got our fortune cookies. I swear to you, no joke, my fortune cookie read, “You will be very successful in your business.” No, really, it did.
How cool is that? We actually saved the fortune. I’m debating on whether to frame it, and if I do, do I frame it with the page from the New York Times with BLOOD NOIR on it? Would that be too hoakie?