Whew! It has been a crazy, exciting week and, let's see...yup, it's only Tuesday! I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I'm flying out to Ann Arbor Sunday morning to meet with book buyers from Borders, and then later in the week I'll be in NYC meeting with buyers from Barnes and Noble. I'm super excited for the trip, but I have a lot to do before I go! (Like decide what I'm going to wear!) I've already enlisted the professional opinions of
Lisa and Laura, who are going to read this and laugh at me. Yes, I am a dork. Deal with it.
So this morning I mailed out the first-ever edition of the Becca Fitzpatrick newsletter - yay! If you don't know what newsletter I'm talking about, you clearly need to register your email address at
my website. It's the fastest and surest way to keep up-to-date on the hottest news and win freebies. Speaking of freebies, five lucky newsletter subscribers won HUSH, HUSH T-shirts this morning, and one won an ARC of HUSH, HUSH. (Congrats, Perla!)
As I was typing this, I got an email from my agent, informing me I was mentioned in Shelf Awareness today. It appears if you've been wanting to get your hands on an early copy of HUSH, HUSH, you still can. Simon & Schuster is running a sweepstakes, and all the exciting details are
HERE.
Now. If my editor, agent, or anyone else professionally associated with me are still reading, please STOP. This next part is NOT for your ears.
So. This morning I had this great idea to take my ARC to my local indie store,
The Readers Cove. I'm a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) so I knew I'd be taking my kids with me (ages 2 and 6), but I'd like to think my children are well-behaved and I assumed there would be no problems. I strolled into the store, introduced myself to the woman at the front counter, and asked if the children's bookseller was in. She said no, Charles wasn't in today, and I went on to introduce myself and show her my shiny new ARC. We talked a little about the book and about my path to publication, and then she graciously offered to deliver the ARC to Charles the next time he was in.
Now for the bad stuff. I walked back to the children's section to find my kids, and they asked if they could each buy a book. As they were carrying their books up to the front counter, my 2 year old bolted for the doors with his book, and ran outside. Without paying! I chased him all the way past ACE Hardware and carted him and the book back inside the store. I was completely embarrassed, but things seemed to be going well since my 6 year old was carrying on a conversation with the woman about a book he'd read on how ice cream is made. Anyway, I set both books on the counter to pay, when there was a huge crash behind me. My 2 year old was literally THROWING BOOKS OFF THE DISPLAY TABLE ONT
O THE FLOOR!! I almost died. I ran over, picked up the books with one hand while I used the other to keep my rabid child away from the display. Then I paid and fled. FLED!
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I left an impression on the people of The Readers Cove. No worries that they won't remember me the next time I stop in.
UGH.