"I read your book." | Sung J. Woo

In preparation for the avalanche of media coverage that will be exploding like a volcano (talk about mixing some bad metaphors), I have set up a Google Alert with my name, and lo and behold, I actually got a hit.  The article is from my hometown newspaper, the Warren Reporter.  It all looks good, except they said my novel came out last month.  But hey, press is press, so I’m grateful.

The other bit of news I found today was that an email interview I did a little while ago got in The Korea Daily.  It’s been there for about two weeks, so if I hadn’t been so lazy setting up my Google Alert, maybe this would’ve been my first.  In any case, for those who want to read the interview in English that I’d originally done with the reporter, check out the exchange below.  The Korean version has been shifted around here and there, but it’s basically the same thing.

The contract copies of the book (comp copies that are designated in the contract) arrived yesterday, and this morning, I slid them into the top shelf of my bookcase and took this shot, and I was reminded of one of my favorite jobs growing up.

The year before I left for college, I worked at the Barnes & Noble in Shrewsbury, NJ, which, like so many stores nowadays, isn’t there anymore.  Each associate was given a section to take care of, and I ended up with scifi/fantasy, which was great because at that time, I read a lot of it.  I hadn’t discovered Philip K. Dick yet, but I was quite fond of folks like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s series), Isaac Asimov (Foundation series), and Stephen R. Donaldson (Mordant’s Need series).  Not only did I have to keep the shelves in order, I also had to keep tabs on what was selling out and had the freedom to display the books however I chose.  If there was a title I liked,  I faced the cover out, to catch the eyes of the potential customer.

So here’s what I hope, now that I’m standing on the other side — that there’s a book associate out there who likes my book enough to give it the cover treatment.

Just read two excellent pieces from Glimmer Train’s latest bulletin.  One is by Jeremiah Chamberlin, about workshops, titled “Workshop Is Not for You”:

Whenever my students complain about workshop, their gripes invariably have to do with issues of reciprocity. Or, rather, the lack thereof—they have spent a great deal of time carefully reading and writing thoughtful comments on the work of their peers, only to receive the vaguest feedback in return.

I can certainly relate, having been through many workshops.  It’s a nice, positive spin on a sore subject.  Then there’s Aaron Gwyn’s piece, simply titled “Trouble”:

Trouble, trouble, trouble.

“In life, we want peace,” I tell them. We want love, and peace, and job security. In literature, not so much.

I’m printing this one out, because even though I know it, I so often forget it.