Funk in the Trunk

I sold out Rattlesnake Wedding at Amazon.com over the weekend. I miss the days when I could just grab a book out of my trunk. I used to carry boxes of my first novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer in my trunk, and I sold it out box by box, book by book as I drove around America. Amazon has made those days obsolete; aging joints and a real job have made those days impossible to replicate. Being an author on the road is like being a stand-up comic going from gig to gig.

I always had a book in the trunk, just in case....If someone said, "I heard you've written a book," I could run to my trunk and sell them one.

Amarillo will always have a special place in my heart. I sold 52 books in a day (that's nearly three boxes of books) at a Hastings. In Pasadena, California I did not sell a book until 11:00 at night and then sold 12 in the last ten minutes after the movie crowd came in for a night cap. I sold out in San Luis Obispo, California in less than an hour.

I was not the best manager of my money. I ate Kobe beef after a successful signing in Phoenix and spent more on dinner than I made selling books. I saw a play in New York City. The less said about Las Vegas the better.

The late Borders chain had some good times and some bad. I'm banned at one Borders store for being "too outgoing," so I did not cry when that Borders went under. If Borders ever come back, I don't know if the ban would still hold.

There were some dangerous times. I faced a blizzard on something called Lizard Head Pass in Colorado and slid onto the side of the road. I fell asleep driving on I-10 and had to stop for the night in Lordsburg, NM, in a motel with broken windows. Note to self, there is a Starbucks in Plainview Texas. Do NOT ask if they have the New York Times. Seriously.

Amazon will have the book sometime next week. Maybe sooner if they have one stored in the trunk just in case...