SUMMER LEISURE

It's the hot days of summer, although we've had a cool one so far here in Montana. I've been wondering if folks still read all day during the summer like I did as a child. My hangout was the public library. I was quite content to be rummaging around the stacks alone and often spent days on end just reading. I adored Nancy Drew mysteries until I got on the the rhythm of them, and could figure them out ahead of time!

I've just finished THE HELP, which I found fascinating. I uncharacteristically spent several mornings in my lovely recliner absorbing the tales of Southern aristocracy through the eyes of their black maids. I loved the various personalities of the female characters. (I want to develop that facility to truly delineate one character from the next.) And I felt the humidity, the seething rage, and the suppression of 1962 for people of all skin colors whether they were aware of it or not.

Now I'm diving into MAO'S LAST DANCER, an autobiography, that takes me to rural China during the worst Maoist period when children who drew on walls with chalk were considered counter revolutionaries and their (starving) families were threatened with dire consequences. My privilege and freedom humble me.

But I have also been looking for independent bookstores around Flathead Lake since I'll be up there for 10 days in August. I found quite a list on the web and the phonebook. I felt confident and ploughed right in sending my MEDICINE ROCK post cards and emails. A few weeks later I followed up with phone calls. The recession makes its inroads: BORDERS, closed; three other stores: phones dead; one, used books only. So I guess it's the "walk in cold" approach to the ones still standing when I get up there.

I've decided to go to the Flathead Writers' Conference in October. I attended two years ago and truly enjoyed rubbing elbows with other people who worship words like I do. Prior to the gathering I submitted a MR synopsis & other information to an agent from Tennessee. When my appointment time came (15 minutes allowed), the first thing she said was, "I love it! Believe me, I don't often say that at gatherings like this!" Well, I was just floating for over an hour afterwards wandering around the grounds of the junior college catching my breath. A professional loved my work. Wow!

So I'll set up a table this time and see what happens. And glean evermore ideas on how to proceed. I'm pretty convinced there's a "back east" connection out there with a big email list, or blog, or twitter, or whatever, that will begin a new limb of sales for MR on the east coast. But I'm a little impatient! It would be an excellent book to read summer or winter, actually. But road trips are usually in summer!