More Nitwittery: Please, May I Just Have a Plain Ol' Beer?

I'm not a beer aficionada (I'm a historian, folks; not a gourmet). The whole beer-as-object-of-devotion-and-adulation thing is annoying as hell. Don't ge me wrong: I appreciate well-made beer, but as a fetish, well . . . Anyway, this today from Alan at the Good Beer Blog. Now Alan is something I can see as an object of devotion/adulation, me being a serious fan of contrarianism.

It's Not Just Hilarious; It's TRUE!

Astute Reader Dexter sent me this link. And now I KNOW he's astute, because he knew I'd appreciate it, because he gets what I do for a living and he realized that this would ring true. (Big round of applause for Dexter, please.)

This essay is hilarious. Why? Because it completely nails, and I mean perfectly, totally, completely nails why authors have to work so hard to promote their books: 'cause the publisher prolly isn't gonna do much because, well, read the essay.

Although: I was  fortunate with the beer book. The publicist originally assigned to it left for another job a month or so before the book came out. Which left me and my book, well, stranded. (Because everyone else in the department was already working on other authors' books and publishing PR departments are chronically understaffed. It's the nature of the beast.) (*1)

So then a new guy came on board and, uh, did, um, well, nothing. (Nice guy but worthless.) No surprise, he wasn't around long.

But about a year six months after the book came out, one of the department's underlings got promoted and took over my book and he did more for it  than anyone had prior to that. He was amazing. Wonderful. Heroic. I wanted to mother his children. He was everything any author could want.

And, yes, you can see this coming: He left to take another job. 'Cause that's how it goes in the wonderful world of publishing.

And that's why writers like me bust our asses to blog, use Twitter, write op-ed pieces (see the "Other Projects"  link at the top of the page), blog some more, etc.  Because we've got to promote our books, because, say it with me, no one else is gonna do it.

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*1: This, by the way, is not a criticism. Shit happens. Plus, I LOVE my editor and therefore I LOVE my publishing house. It was my choice to publish the meat book with them. I will stay with them as along as they'll have me. Unless my editor goes to another house. Then, hmmm . . . I might change my mind.

My New Favorite Phrase

"Ranty McPanty," courtesy of the lovely Ell in Oz, who used it in a comment on an earlier post. I do love a good rant.

For God's Sake, Give the Man A Chance

Hey, I'm happy President Obama won the Nobel. But now the media-chattering begins and I vote for the following observation as the Most Inane of the Day. The New York Times notes the award and then says:

But while Mr. Obama has generated considerable good will overseas — his foreign counterparts are eager to meet with him, and polls show he is hugely popular around the world — many of his policy efforts have yet to bear fruit, or are only just beginning to do so.

Uh, hello? The guy's been president exactly (more or less) nine months. Human being take that long to form. Peace policies typically take years. If some of his efforts are already beginning to "bear fruit," well, I'd say that's amazing. Especially given that the previous president had eight years to fuck things up.

Jacob Grier On Why He Twitters (Yes, That's A Real Verb)

Useful ruminations from Jacob Grier on why Twitter is worth it. I agree with his list (*1) And have to say that "socializing" was definitely not part of the equation from me when I started. Yes, I was trying to figure out how to get my books in front of people.

Like Jacob, I've ended up getting to "know" people I otherwise never would have known (or known about). Most important, however, Twitter has significantly expanded my intellectual realm of possibilities. And I mean significantly. I've run into and benefited from people a host of fields (science, journalism, lit crit, younameit). Plus I've been able to follow the ongoing "debate" among and between the food people in a way that I probably would not have without Twitter.

So . . . there you have, from me to you, at the end of a long day during which I continued my efforts to break the back of this chapter.

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*1: Jacob was one of three two people who urged/persuaded, me to try Twitter. The other two were Jeff Alworth at Beervana and David Nygren at The Urban Elitist.) (Which, no, he's not updated recently. I gather he's involved in the move-and-remodel from hell.)

And On September 12, 2001 . . .

. . . we awoke, we remembered the day before --- and we began the long journey toward hope. I commemorate this day every year by re-reading "Alabanza," a poem by Martin Espada. I first heard it in 2003, read by Espada himself. As with any poem, it is best read aloud.