So this is it. The “official” book launch party:
Come Party with us and celebrate the launch of “The Dog Lived (and So Will I)”–a fundraiser for The Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center
YOU ARE ALL INVITED!! More events coming soon, including a cocktail party benefiting The Pink Ribbon Place on October 2nd at The Salted Pig!
The official release date for The Dog Lived (and So Will I) is October 2, 2012. BUT, you have a chance to win an advance copy! Aren’t you excited about that? Seamus is totally excited about you winning (okay, mostly, he’s excited about toast, but once he gets past that he’s totally excited about…okay, right, steak.) Here’s where you enter: THE DOG LIVED (AND SO WILL I) BOOK GIVEAWAY!
I realized we haven’t posted in a bit (where does that time go? Is it hiding with all the lost socks??). Mostly that’s because we (yep, all 3 of us) have been very busy with some exciting plans. But we did have a nice day at dog beach on Sunday. Here’s the proof:
The beach was a little overwhelming for Seamus at first and he stuck by mom’s side…that didn’t last long. He loved it!
The Crew in front of us–mesmerized by Seamus of course!
Seamus always finds the best seat in the house.
Much to my surprise, late last night I realized I’d almost completely forgotten a fairly major milestone. 3 years ago yesterday I finished the very last of my radiation treatments which was the very last of my cancer treatments. 3 years is a big deal for Triple Negative breast cancer because the incidence of recurrence drops dramatically after 3 years. And while that “3 year” countdown may have begun after my surgery (so 3 years was up back in January), it’s comforting to think that I’ve been 3 years without having any treatment at all. And I’m fine. I’m fantastic. I’m healthy. This was my post then: Graduating from Breast Cancer “School” I’ve got more hair, I’m 20 lbs lighter, and I’ve got a book coming out in 2 months, 16 days and 15 hours (but who’s counting?)…but I can’t really say I’m wildly happier today. Because I was really, really, really happy on that day 3 years ago. 
Happy Cancer-versary. How else would we celebrate?
You’ve heard of autograph hounds right? Yep, that’s Seamus.
Seamus knows he’s the star of the show. Chris and Teresa are just supporting characters
He wasn’t collecting autographs though. (He’s not really impressed with celebrities…unless they happen to have a steak on them. Also, toast.) Instead he was “paw-tographing” copies of “our” book at the American Library Association annual conference. We had a great day! I awoke at 4:30 a.m. so that I could be out the door by 6:30 and at the Anaheim Convention Center by 7:30 in order to hear one of my all time favorite writers, John Irving, give the opening address. I’m not a morning person by any stretch, but this was well worth it.
Not the best photo; I was too mesmerized to concentrate on my photography (and it was 8a.m.)
John Irving addressing the ALA 2012 crowd
He was so inspirational and I loved hearing him read parts of “In One Person” (his newest novel, of which I am lucky enough to have an Advance Reader’s Copy thanks to the fabulous Valerie Pierce, marketing maven at Sourcebooks). Now as I read the book I’m reading it in his voice (in my head, of course…I’m not talking out loud. Or in voices.) One thing he said that resonated with me was that in all of his books the reader knows some big plot point up front–like in A Prayer for Owen Meany you know up front that Owen dies. You just don’t know how and that “how” is driving the plot. That made me feel much better about the fact that in “The Dog Lived (and So Will I)” you know up front that…um,…the dog lives. And so do I. But it’s how we do it that is key. (Hint: Moxie and aplomb are involved.)
Next I had a few brief moments in the exhibit hall where the nice publishing folks were handing me (and others there, but still, I felt special) books…for free! So many great books coming out in the fall, it was a veritable orgy of reading possibilities. But I had to hurry on to the Sourcebooks booth where Chris had arrived with the star of the show (well, our show anyway), Seamus himself. This is pretty much what Seamus looked like for the entire 2 hours he was there:
“Who has food? Huh? Who? Gimme Your Food! Give it!!”
Because this was a conference of librarians…with purses…and Seamus knows purses contain treats. It’s just a given he’ll find some lost Tic-tac or Goldfish cracker, or, you know, that 1/2 bagel someone stashed quickly while they raced off to the next booth for a book signing. So he was in “shark” mode circling the folks in line and sniffing out purses. Which, of course, everyone finds very funny. Once again I signed Advanced Reader’s Copies of the book and all 200 were gone in under 40 minutes. This batch was extra special though, because it contained this:
Seamus’s Paw-tograph!
That’s a stamp of Seamus’s actual paw print! (Thanks to Becky Whatley at Quality Printing!) It would have been a disaster to have Seamus actually step on a stamp pad and then on to the page of the book (and he would have lasted maybe 2 books…unless there was toast involved) but the stamp worked wonderfully. I think most people were just humoring me as far as getting my signature, what everyone really wanted was Seamus’s paw print. And who can blame them! Look at this superstar:
Seamus loves the spotlight. Note the banner in the back “Authors are our Rock Stars.” Yeah, I’m a rock star too!
Chris and Seamus left after the signing and a little bit of hanging around chatting with the many nice library and Sourcebooks folks. But I stayed. There was so much to do. It was my version of Disneyland. Authors speaking, books everywhere, coffee in abundance and librarians! (Who are the nicest, most well-mannered but still fun group ever. Really.) One of the Sourcebooks folks had told me that BEA is like a club (meaning nightclub), whereas ALA is more of a “pub.” So true! And I love pubs. I had a nice lunch, scored many more books, met Sherman Alexie,
Author Sherman Alexie signs his books
went by the Cooking Stage where cookbook authors are whipping up samples (picked up “Plant Powered Diet” by Sharon Palmer) listened to Chris Colfer (Kurt on Glee) talk about his new book, Land of Stories, went to a cocktail reception where Penguin was showing off their many fabulous fall titles (so many books, so, so little time!) and then went to a cocktail party with the generous Sourcebooks folks who allowed me to tag along even though it was a party for Young Adult book people (my book is decidedly not young adult… more PG-13). After the reception they were off to a dinner event so I went back to the conference center and grabbed a quick dinner (Garden Burger–still vegan; still loving it!) and when I walked out, I nearly ran into this:
Dave Barry, Stephen King and Greg Iles on their way to their final Rock Bottom Remainders Show at ALA 2012
In case you can’t tell, that’s Stephen King and Greg Iles on that cart. And Dave Barry in the foreground. What the heck?? Well, they are all members of the Rock Bottom Remainders band, along with Amy Tan, Roy Blount, Jr., Mitch Albom, Scott Turow, Ridley Pearson, James McBride and Matt Groening. No, seriously…allllllll of them. And they’re the reason I was staying so late. Rock Bottom Remainders was performing their last show ever. Ev.Er. And I got to be there. I’ll just let you bask in the fun of this night:
L to R Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry and Mitch Albom perform in their final Rock Bottom Remainders Show at ALA 2012
Amy Tan (in dominatrix attire and blond wig) rocking out with Stephen King
Dominatrix Amy Tan spanks the behinds of authors Stephen King, Dave Barry, Mitch Albom, Ridley Pearson and Roy Blount, Jr. (Bad photo again…again too much laughter)
Scott Turow belts out a song (who knew the dude was a) so short and b) all tatted up!)
Matt Groening on left, Amy Tan, Stephen King in the middle and guest star Roger McGuinn of The Byrds
A Fond Farewell. So. Much. Fun.
I got home at 11:30 and stayed up telling Chris all about it until 1:30a.m. A 21-hour day…and so, so worth every minute.
PS. Thank goodness for my plant-powered diet and new energy, but yeah, I was exhausted the next day.
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