Lucy Dillon, of course, is this absolutely charming and clever and funny person who writes excellent feel good novels that somehow often involve dogs. I’ve loved her books for years, so naturally I was thrilled and a little terrified to get to speak with her in this podcast, Speaking of Stories, that brings together one Swedish author and one international author visiting Sweden.
I had of course thought about a lot of things that could go wrong, the main one being that we would have nothing to talk about. Having nothing to talk about would have been increadibly awkward seing as how we began with a two hour lunch, followed by a one and a half hour of recorded conversation (eventually cut to a more reasonable 35 minutes), followed by another conversation in a bookshop.
Fortunately, Lucy Dillon is almost as talkative as I am and quite a bit much more charming and experienced. I could probably have contiuned talking to her for hours, so it is perhaps good that there was a producer involved who kept us on track and made sure we eventually stopped.
You can listen to the podcast here (where you’ll also find other episodes)
I have just spent a glorious week visiting a friend in Oakland. Since the trip was decided quite hastily, I didn’t do any events, and besides, I am going to spend three even more glorious weeks on an epic US book tour (I’ll tell you about it tomorrow). Instead, I spent my days as God has intended us to do: having coffee and “writing” in cafés (everyone knows that when you’re abroad “working” in a café, it’s perfectly all right to just stare out of the window) and visiting every bookshop that came my way.
In fact, I ended up spending most of my days at the Bittersweet Café in Oakland. It’s best feature is that it’s just opposite Laurel Book Store, which is of course an irresistable view. Naturally I visited the bookshop several times.
It’s an amazing bookshop, and my friend told me that they used to have my book in their Recommended-bookshelf. When we met up in the evening, I told him about how much I loved the bookshop.
“What did they say when you introduced yourself?” asked my friend.
“Introduced myself?” said I.
“Yes, told them who you were.”
“But… I just bought books. I didn’t introduce myself! Of course not. I couldn’t. I had no reason to introduce myself. What would I have said? ‘Speaking about nothing, I written this book…’ – ‘You haven’t asked, of course, but I have written this book…’ – ‘It makes no difference to you, of course, but I am a writer!”
“Sometimes I forget how Swedish you are”, said my friend. And I hadn’t even told him that I also snuck around the bookshop looking for my book. Of course I did. Surely every author do?
“So did you talk to them at all?”
“Well, sure. I complimented their bookshop and talked about the weather.”
Sometimes it’s quite a struggle being Swedish.
But the good news is that it turned out that I will be visiting them on May 21 for an event during my epic tour, so I’ll get to visit them again. And I bought some great books there, of course.
San Franscisco Book Review has reviewed The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, calling it “a stellar novel that demands to be experienced and inhabited”: http://www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/2016/04/readers-broken-wheel-recommend/
Andersson’s bookshop, in Naperville, Ill! Out of the 12,615 votes cast, Anderson’s received 934. They plan to use the $3000 award to open cafés in possibly two of their bookshop locations. Page and Palate in Fairhope, Ala. and Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Mich., the two runners-up, were each awarded $637. I hope I get to visit them all!
Read more about the campaign and the winning bookshops here.
As a writer, I tend to come up with lots of ideas for how not to spend time writing. A blog is of course a very basic first step to avoid your novel (perhaps only beaten by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Coincidently you can also find me there). One of the less smart ideas was to have two blogs – one in English, one in Sweden. I’m not very good at working consistently on a project over time (I exceed in the first weeks, that magical burst of inspiration, and then I tire). This, I admit, does not speak well for my ability to write an entire book, but I usually trick myself into thinking about it as a couple of hundred tiny projects that eventually ends up in one big one.
Anyway. The two blogs have never been a great success. I’ve blogged in English (mainly about bookshops), and ignored the Swedish part. I’ve blogged in Swedish (mainly about killing all my plants and/or other everyday challenges for a full-time writer) and ignored the English part. I’ve sat in the sofa reading books and ignored both the blogs. I guess in the end it will balance out somehow.
This means that I am appallingly late with some great news: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend was on the New York Times Bestseller list (Place 15 out of 15 on the Trade Paperback section)! It’s a miracle. Or it was, two weeks ago, when it happened.
For me, The New York Times Bestseller, are magical words that appear on paperbacks by American authors (Lee Child, John Grisham). And apparently they bestow a sort of identity on the authors. More than just nice news, I can now claim that it’s part of who I am. I am A New York Times Bestselling Author.
I am also a #1 Denver Post Bestselling Author, although that is perhaps a more local honor. It means almost as much to me; it’s the bookshop Tattered Covers Book Store (I love that name. It’s just as well I didn’t know about it when I wrote my book, or I might have “borrowed” it). They appear to be hand-selling my book with great success, and it makes it all so much fun, to think that local independent bookshops like my book.
