ROAD VIRGINS: FINALE

This is how you feel after 10 days on the road promoting your book: Your eyes are so dry that you feel as if you had the starring role in "Clockwork Orange." You can't decide whether the clothes in your suitcase should go to the cleaners or be dispatched by flame atop your gas stove. And after sitting down to watch TV while having some dinner with your significant other, you wake up and, whadjaknow, it's 10 p.m. -- and the evening news has morphed into a rerun of "Rambo."

But exhaustion isn't the only thing the Book Babes felt after four days of visiting bookstores and filling TV screens in the Bay area. There are also wonderful memories of how superbly we were treated at Books Inc. in Burlingame and Book Passage in Corte Madera. 

On KGO-TV's "View from the Bay," we talked about what books worked best for women in T-shirts or jeans or poodle skirts (a dog book, of course!). We took on dating and mating with Henry Tenenbaum, the colorful and good-humored host of KRON-TV's "Weekend Daybreak." We autographed scores of books for fellow Book Babes (anyone can join!), and many more with hopes that they'll find a place to land by Christmas.

We marvel when recalling the support we Book Babes received from Bay area relatives who came out to see us at our bookstore appearances. We also thank the women authors who joined us at Book Passage -- Liza Dalby ("Tale of Murasaki"), Caille Millner ("The Gold Road: Notes on My Gentrification"), Ruth Gendler ("Notes on the Need for Beauty") and Maureen Adams ("Shaggy Muses"). They offered an articulate and moving testimony to the value of the writing life -- and women's solidarity. 

And did we mention the blue skies and record-breaking temperatures? They brightened our stay. That and the hospitality of Michelle Passoff and Andre Kuppermunz, who opened their arms and home to the Book Babes in the Oakland Hills; the generosity of readers, interviewers, and friends, and -- last but hardly least -- the encouragement of Renee Sedliar, the San Francisco-based editor of "Between the Covers," who defines what a good editor does: She kept her magic hidden from view in the book so that all the credit would be ours.

As many authors have told us, promoting a book is harder than writing it, probably because it seems so unnatural. In an ideal world, writing speaks for itself, and there's no need to strut your stuff like a performing seal. But in the real world, you need to meet the public in order to draw attention to your work. Even with the fatigue, this task seems more like a privilege than we might have thought. Meeting other people who love to read is like finding long lost friends. You always have something to talk about.      

      

Comments

[Leroy Christian]

Hi Elliott & Annie: It is great to see you promoting your New Book.
Of course promotion,or Marketing usually takes more work than Writing.
But this is what we speak about in my Blog i.e by making even small steps you will achieve more!
I hope our Group will access copies of your Book shortly.
Thanks,
Leroy

[Mortimer Adler's Nemesis]

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[Egghead]

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Ellen, what he meant to say is "Ellen, the idea for you to consider is schtick." By the way, Ellen, his comment was appropriate, and you haven't responded.