It's all happening. The book was officially published yesterday. Several people on the forums have received copies from Amazon, although it seems that Amazon have now sold out... this is Very Good News in a way, of course.
Favourable responses all round, so far. And a really good review from Nettie, over on MHB.
I went to the lunchtime poetry reading at the Central Library, and read a couple of haiku from the book, and waved it around and mentioned that it had just been published. The gentle art of the hard sell. Be afraid. Be just a tiny bit afraid.
Home in time for an e-mail from Patrick at Random, to say that we're invited to appear on R4's Midweek on May 14th.
Gosh.
Called in on Catherine Mason at Broadcast Books; she's just got the proofs of Wildlife Rescue, so I had a quick look before she headed off to Slimbridge to let the WWT people have a look. It looks good, too.
I cycled down to the harbour in the evening, and met the Bristol Flickr people on the Grain Barge, a big boat with beer in it. People ate plates of pie and mash. Other people, or sometimes the same people, took photos of pie and mash, of the harbour, of each other, of each others' cameras. A rainbow ascended from Spike Island, disappeared into the dark clouds, and reappeared over towards St Michael's Hill.
Glad the book is doing well already.
ReplyDeleteAnd rats... I've missed another flickr meet! Oh well maybe 2 a year is enough...
saw your link & stopped over to say hi. congrats! & to mr. beard, too. it's nerve-wracking, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteif you need a shoulder to deal with being so public, me & betty would be happy to listen.
My copy is on order...I read the Guardian piece and found myself moved beyond words...
ReplyDeleteI'm starting my transition now, trying to keep my eye on the light at the end of a tunnel that for so long I never thought I could even enter.
It's a rollercoaster with no seatbelt. Held safe by the loving hands of some, while others - on whom I had hoped to rely - reach in to try and drag me out back into pain and hopelessness.
They say that trans people have many different lives but only one story?
Amazon have yet to deliver my copy ordered two months ago, Ray sauntered into Waterstones today and bought a copy *bangs head on desk*
ReplyDeleteA rather sad ferret
P.S.
ReplyDeleteI think the photo of Mr Beard (the author bit) isn't so good, you have far better photos. I expect he doesn't want to get hounded by women, :-(
F
Caroline: thank you. At least being in Cornwall is a pretty good reason for missing a Flickr meet.
ReplyDeleteHelen: yes, bloody nerve-wracking. That's a kind offer. Thank you.
Josephine: yes, I very much recognise your description. Some people do take time, though; some friends I thought I'd lost for ever; we were eventually reconciled, but the sense of bewilderment on the one side and rejection on the other was very painful at the time. I hope you find it the same. The reconciliation stuff, not the pain bit, that is...
I don't know what Amazon are up to, Ferret. It looks as though they've sold out their stock. I hope they get some more in pretty soon. Yes, the pic of Richard is a quite old one; he would have preferred something more recent too. And I think he's improved with age. Can I say that? O heck, why not?