Lary Bloom
Writer, Editor, Teacher
The Bloom Blog
Photo by Nancy Dionne
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Book Tour Surprises
Authors love to whine about book tours. The exhaustion, sometimes even the humiliation. I remember a television talk show appearance many years ago in which the host introduced me by the wrong name. It is common that local TV personalities avoid at any cost reading the books they talk about on the air. Authors are used to this, and do nicely filling in the blanks. But when I was introduced that morning as Lary Brown, my capacity for rudeness suddenly was tapped. Intentionally, I referred to the host by a name other than his own. This was naughty and unforgiveable. To this day, I regret it.But if writing is hard work, and it is, peddling a book is also that. For my new book, Lary Bloom's Connecticut Notebook, we have set up a mini-book tour, all within the state. Generally, I looked forward to this commercial trek, and have enjoyed the experiences so far. I see them like baseball games -- oldtimers will tell you that in every baseball game something happens that a close observor has never seen before. This is also true of every stop on a book tour.
My first appearance for this book was in Storrs, CT., for the UConn Co-op. Suzy Staubach runs the general books division there, and has been a great friend and supporter. She's also a talented writer, and her new book, titled Clay, is already getting much attention. Storrs is something of a haul from my house in Chester, but I certainly didn't mind doing it for Suzy, who promoted the event well, taking a small poster that my publisher, Globe Pequot Press, had sent her, and blowing it up to embarrassing size, as if the President were appearing.
In the audience that evening was Beth Usher, whom I had written about seven years earlier, and whose story appears in the new book. At age 25, she is a veteran interviewee. As small child, she underwent dramatic surgery--the removal of half of her brain. This was necessary to address the seizures caused by a rare disease called Rasmussen's Encephalitis, which, if left, untreated causes the victim to be institutionalized. Beth came through the surgery well, though she still has, 18 years later, residual effects, including speech impediments, and weakness in the right side of her body.
As I read the chapter in my book about Beth, I kept checking with her to see if I had permission to include the parts that are private and difficult. She kept nodding, and saying "Go ahead." When I got to the part in the chapter that points out her difficulties with short-term memory, I asked, "Beth, can I read this part, about short term memory?" Without a second to think about, she responded with a smile, "What was the question?" The audience roared. Perhaps some people thought we'd rehearsed that. We hadn't, of course. Beth Usher, a young woman with pluck and humor, reminded me of a reason I write -- to illustrate how people address significant obstacles, and, in many cases, overcome them.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 4:18 AM
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