Furious relaxation...

Remote posting from Canyon Ranch, where I'm hanging with my parents and trying to relax. Jet lag is screwing with my sleep though which makes me all obsessive and weird. Uusally when I can't sleep, I start mentally fretting about the days or weeks ahead, what I need to do, and what a big inconvenient life-rockblock it is. And this is at 5 Am, clearly telling me I've crossed over the median of sanity.

What do you do when you can't sleep?

Off...

Hey ya'll. I'm leaving for vacation with my parents and to meet with my new publisher in New York. I'm set to return on the 6th.

I may be posting from the road when I get the chance. But most likely, updates will rather sporatic for the next two weeks.

See you soon. And thanks for all your book related well wishes. I really appreciate it.

The Secret...

I guess I should stop being cryptic...

The big news on my book is that a publisher has bought it. Pending a ream of paperwork and a few signatures, my anthology (at the moment titled Generation Text: Writing and reading in the age of Information Overload) will be published by the Counterpoint imprint of Basic Books in 2005. This means I will have sold my first book 3 weeks shy of my 30th birthday.

Damn.

Since all that VBT stuff...

Plenty has happened since the end of the Virtual Book Tour. Talking about it feels like life is returning to normal. To wit...

1) My first literary event at the Canvas Cafe, "Lit at the Canvas" went off like gangbusters. The readers blew up the place and the crowd was packed full of friends, too many to name here. Canvas management seemed happy and the producer Melinda kept things running smoothly. A great beginning to what will hopefully be a very rich series of literature and related madness in the Sunset district.

And thank you all so much for coming. Your support makes it worth it.

Derek, who read a couple of great stories, posted some pictures.

2) After taking in a show at The Marsh theatre space last week, I got lucky and met one of the performers, Jen Leo. Jen has a fantastic travel writing blog called Written Road and is the editor of Sand in My Bra, a hilarious collection of women's travelling tales.

We have some friends in common and have emailed but that was our first time meeting. We ended up having a drink at a nearby bar wiith one of her friends, talking about publishing (the biz) and our respective professional and personal ambitions. We hit it off almost immediately.

Jenn sent me a copy of Sand the next day which I'm going to dive into soon and then see how I can help it along. Jenn's the kind of person whose enthusiam is contagious. I love people like that.

3) Scott and Megan are moving. Which just breaks my heart. I know Seattle is better for them and their future. I only wish them that. I'll just miss them a lot.

More to come...

VBT Feedback:

Mary Roach's Virtual Book Tour has finished. i'd be interested in hearing everyone's feedback if you've got some.

Whew...

Taking a much needed break from work this weekend, reading, writing, spending time with friends. Be back on Monday.

VBT, Our last day...

Hey ya'll,

Today is the last day of the Virtual Book Tour. An excerpt of Stiff makes an appearence in the July issue of Inkblots Magazine, Geoffrey Long's fine publication out of Washington D.C.

And that's a wrap. It's been a helluva ride that succeeded way beyond our expectations. I'll be soliciting reader feedback starting next week.

Thanks for your support.

VBT #9, Second to last day: We Crabwalk...

Today on the VBT, an interview with Ms. Roach at Crabwalk.com, conducted by the master of ceremonies over there, Josh Benton.

Tomorrow, The Final Day. *sniff*

VBT Day #8: Revenge of Kottke

Hey ya'll,

Mary Roach shows up at Kottke.org to guest post today. Last I looked, there's a raging debate going on as to how one would feel giving their body to science.

Check it out.

Tomorrow, the tour crawls into Dallas and stops at Crabwalk.com.

Virtual Book Tour Stop #7

The VBT is in Seattle today with a stop at Erik Benson's All Consuming. Erik interviewed Mary Roach earlier this week.

Tomorrow: Back to New York. Mary will be taking over Kottke.org for the day.