Overheard at the bookstore

Pre-teen girl today, carrying a heavy armful of books from the cash register:

"Oof! I think I read too much."

Novel stuff

Last month I sent out queries to about a dozen agents, hoping they might be interested in my 400-page novel. I didn't hear anything from most of them--one said they were not accepting anything from new authors at the moment, and another said they were not interested in my work.

A few days ago, an assistant from a fairly well-known agency asked to look at the first 50 pages of my manuscript. My first partial! I barely had a weekend to ride high off this validation before I was contacted again by the agency and asked to submit the full manuscript.

Wow! I'm starting to think those six months of writing will actually pay off. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.

Where's George? Not far.

For years I've entered dollar bills into the "Where's George" website. These have all been bills that have come across my register while working my retail jobs (the zoo and the bookstore), and while most of them have sat dormant for years with nary a hit, some have popped up and been recorded elsewhere. My bills have most commonly shown up in Wisconsin, but also in Chicago and Tennessee.

The other day a five-dollar "Where's George" bill ("Where's Abe?") came across my register at the bookstore. I recorded the number and then sent the bill away with a customer. At home, I entered the number into the website.

Just two days later, I got a hit on the bill...at my old workplace, the zoo! Either an employee or a customer received it there. I guess I gave it to the right person, one who made sure it traveled only a few minutes to the east. Now if it shows up at the bookstore...

Graduate for a year

I graduated from college a year ago today. Kind of scary. The only real celebration I did all day was play some Elgar and reminisce.

The Airbrushing of Tom Wolfe

When the world of books and movies collide, the lawyers step in!

While researching Focus Features' new movie Beginners, I noticed something interesting about two of their promotional stills. In this image, you can see Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor browsing a bookstore. Plummer clearly has a copy of Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full in his hands. Yet in another duplicate still found on some websites, Wolfe's 742-page epic has been blurred. I guess Focus Features was worried about unauthorized product placement.

I am not outraged or surprised by this -- it probably happens all the time and we just don't notice. I just thought it was something cool to point out.

Wuthering Wyler

The other day someone came into the bookstore and asked where we would have Wuthering Heights. I told her we'd shelve it under plain old Fiction. She thanked me and then checked her smartphone.

"That was Wyler, right? The author?" she asked. "Bronte," I said. She looked at me skeptically then went away to the stacks.

It hit me later that she was probably referring to William Wyler, who directed a 1939 version of the classic novel. Her fancy smartphone must've told her Wyler was the author, though I can't imagine how she Googled herself to that mistake or which app deceived her.

No, I've never read it.

Above: a wuthering height.

Spring multitasking

It was an exceptionally nice day today, with highs near the 50's. I'd say it counted as the first day of spring. To celebrate, I took two walks, and on my second one noticed a peculiar sight.

There was a young man walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. He wore sunglasses and a backward baseball cap, and was engaging in several complicated tasks at once. There was an iPod plugged into his ears and with his left hand he was trying to light a cigarette dangling from his mouth. But that wasn't the most interesting part--in his right hand he was holding Tom Clancy's latest 900-page behemoth. Talk about your sensory overload!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone taking a jaunty stroll while reading a hardback novel, much less something as thick as "Dead or Alive." But I can't knock the guy for wanting to be out on a day like today. There must've been so many things he had to do, and it would've been a waste of nice weather to do them inside.