not ready for my close-up

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You know how, in interviews, actors always say they can’t stand to watch their own movies? And how you think, Oh shut up and stop being modest. I know you have a big home theater where you watch all of them over and over again, Norma Desmond-style.

Well, I maybe get it just a little bit now. Not too long ago I encountered my first nasty reader review of The Commuters on Amazon (which is weirdly missing now, but I swear I did not report it to the Amazon authorities). Luckily the late Jake Dante posted a very thoughtful rebuttal. (Jake was AK’s shy, cuddly, scholarly cat, whose fate was sealed by a careless driver on a foggy night last week. He is very much missed, and deserves more than a parenthetical. But, um, for the record, many people and cats who’ve read my book are doing just fine, so I don’t think there’s a curse or anything.)

But on the heels of the negative review, I was nervous about reading the two links to real live journalistic reviews that my editor sent me, even though he promised me they were good. For a whole day I didn’t even click on them, and when I finally read them, I read them fast—like eating ice cream that I knew had a pill hidden in it.

I got off pretty easy, though. The ice-cream-to-pill ratio was in my favor. Since you’re not me, that should make reading this review (scroll down to the bottom of the article) and this review much less nerve-wracking, although also possibly less interesting.

To prove I’m not totally Norma Desmond, I am now going to promote a reading that has nothing to do with me, but which I will definitely be at, given my regard for Jamie FitzGerald’s poetry. The girl writes about Big Sur and Hello Kitty in ways that are so not your average Big Sur or Hello Kitty poems.

The Cobalt Café Reading
Saturday, Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
681 Venice Blvd. Venice, CA 90291
Also featuring Brendan Constantine, Michael C. Ford and some other cool local poets.

Comments

Cheryl said…
I totally still have that bag. It's really, really ratty now, and a few years ago I added a button that says "People before profits." I wear it when I'm feeling crunchy.
October 5, 2006 at 9:42 AM
the last noel said…
Aaaaaaah, reviews. They don't tell you how to deal with that in writing class.
October 6, 2006 at 11:31 AM
Cheryl said…
That's probably for the best. Ignorance is bliss.
October 6, 2006 at 12:43 PM
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