Many Rivers to Cross
The journey continues. The road is hungry and has consumed all my time. I missed the blog last week.
It’s not hard enough just writing a book and self-publishing, so I decided to do a national book tour. My utterly ridiculous and unrealistic goal was to visit independent bookstores in all 48 contiguous states.
I figured if I could handle 40 years in Africa, spending six months on the road in America should be a cinch. Since then, my van has been rammed at midnight my meth-heads in Montana. In Louisiana, a man dressed in military camo, wearing a gun holster and a can of mace ambushed me in a parking lot.
He accused me of parking illegally and pointed to a sign that said $50 fine. Since he had a gun and I did not, and he had booted my car, I figured there was really no way to get out of there without paying something. I bargained politely and paid him $10.
You still think writing and selling a book is easy? You can easily get yourself killed as an author.
But we don’t give up easily We are still on the national book tour. We arrived last Sunday in Texas from Louisiana. Texas has just about eaten us alive. My laptop died in Houston and was sent out for repairs.
The next day, in Austin, my cellphone started overheating. I was afraid it would melt down and might even catch on fire. It turned out that the hands-free charging unit was overcharging the cell phone. As an author on the road, I rely entirely on my laptop and cell phone to function. These were heavy blows.
Yet we persist. I thought of the 1969 reggae hit by singer Jimmy Cliff, “Many Rivers to Cross.”
Many rivers to cross/And it's only my will that keeps me alive
I've been licked, washed up for years/And I survive because of my pride.
I can relate. We’ve crossed rivers both literal and figurative. I’ve lost track of the actual rivers. In Mississippi alone, after I thought of the song, I counted that we crossed five rivers (the Mississippi, Pascagoula, Yalobusha, Yocona, and Homochitto). In Louisiana, there were eight (the Mississippi, Red River, Atchafalaya, Bayou Teche, Vermilion, Mermenteau, and Sabine.) In Texas, which is mostly desert, we only counted the rivers that flow all year long (Brazos, Colorado, Navasota, San Saba, Pecos, and the one we will see only from the US side but not cross, the mighty Rio Grande).
Rio Grande
Crossing rivers requires that you find a bridge that will convey you safely from one side to the other. It occurred to me that in writing the book, I had had to build many bridges to convey readers from one place or time to another. If you create too great a divide, the readers may not get across it.
Figurative obstacles behind and ahead. We have already overcome or at least confronted hurdles. The book is written. I self-published it on Amazon. I completed a rewrite and had it proofread. I am currently working with the graphic artist in London to complete the interior layout and design. It did not occur to me that including over 100 pictures and 25 maps and illustrations would make it hard. The pictures are driving my graphic designer crazy.
My graphic artist may want to kill me when all is said and done. The poor man has the patience of a saint, but to him, at this point, I am the devil incarnate. It is an unholy alliance of the sacred and the profane. Also, my graphic artist has designs on my book. He is actually creating original artwork.
“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date,” as they say in Alice in Wonderland. I hoped that the book would be ready to release at the end of February, but today the designer said it would be mid-March.
I was disappointed that it would take longer than expected, but on the other hand, this will allow us to keep driving for a while longer. Once the book comes out, we might have to pull off the road to focus on the book launch, marketing, and promotion. I am dreading the prospect of doing sales.
Should anyone reading this blog happen to know how to launch and promote a book or know of a person who does, please let me know. I would be forever in your debt, in more ways than one. In other words, I will be eternally grateful, and also, it will probably take me a long time to pay the bill.
Until next time, whenever that is! We’re off to Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande River.
