Diana Spechler on the Pleasures and Perils, but mostly Pleasures, of Book Touring

I met Diana Spechler this past weekend at Book Group Expo in San Jose. She knew me and Ghost Word and we settled into an easy conversation at the Friday night authors party. Diana has just published her first book, Who By Fire, a novel that the organizers of the event liked so much that they put Spechler in the first panel, teamed with bestselling novelist Andre Dubus III.

Who By Fire tells the story of a family rocked by tragedy and the lingering repercussions of sorrow. Here's a description. You can find more information on Diana's website.

Bits and Ash were children when the kidnapping of their younger sister Alena, an incident for which Ash blames himself, caused an irreparable family rift. Thirteen years later, Ash is living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, cutting himself off from his mother, Ellie, and his wild child sister, Bits. But soon he may have to face them again: Alena’s remains have finally been uncovered. Now Bits is traveling across the world in a bold and desperate attempt to bring her brother home and salvage what’s left of their family. Told from the alternating points of view of the three family members, Who By Fire is a searing commentary on guilt, grief, and the inescapable bonds of family from a fresh and extremely talented new voice in American fiction.

Diana is in the middle of her book tour -- she speaks in New York tonight -- and shares some of her observations:

The best thing about book tour is the hotel rooms. Hotel rooms are a not just a step up, but a giant leap up, from the living quarters I inhabit in Manhattan. Contrary to what Sex and the City may have taught the world about life as a New York City writer, the truth is this: If you are a writer in New York City, you either a) live in Brooklyn, b) live with roommates, c) do both, or d) live in a 200-square-foot apartment with no kitchen.

I chose d.

I was never such a fan of roommates, particularly since I write at home—I’m not crazy about the idea of company if I’m pacing, talking to myself, and banging my forehead against my desk, dressed in an ink-stained tank top and underwear that says Hanes on the elastic.

But back to book tour. Take San Jose, California, where I just spent the weekend at BookGroup Expo, where I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely Frances Dinkelspiel. My hotel room was nearly twice the size of my apartment. It wasn’t cluttered with garbage bags full of the clothes I’ve been meaning to take to Good Will for six months. It had a window that let in plenty of light, and heavy curtains that could make the room completely dark. The bed had four pillows. It wasn’t lofted. The bathroom was equipped with a glass jar of cotton balls. In the closet hung a beautiful, giant robe. I put it on and threw myself on the bed. I was in Heaven.

Even though every author wants to go on a book tour, touring authors can’t help but complain to one another a little. We’re tired. We’ve been in four cities in one week. We gave a reading to an audience of three. We had the middle seat on the plane. We’re living out of our suitcases.

But at that point in the conversation, I tend to drop out. You don’t like living out of a suitcase? Then unpack your clothes! There’s a whole stack of drawers, empty except for a Bible. There’s a roomy closet full of those special hotel hangers that are impossible to steal. And if you’re tired, there’s a chocolate on your pillow. The corner of the bedspread is turned down in an inviting triangle. Tell me what’s not to love.

A Feast of Authors

I spent much of the weekend at Book Group Expo in San Jose. It was a fabulous gathering of authors and readers and a great way to get insight on the creative process.

This is the third meeting of Book Group Expo, which is the mastermind of Anne Kent, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and Suzanne Pari. They work for months to put together provocative panels that combine established and emerging authors.

The Expo kicked off Friday night with a cocktail party for authors and moderators. There was lots of wine and little food, which meant that shortly into the evening the conversations were a little more honest and revealing than average. A complaint about a bad review was met with similar confessions of despair about other bad reviews. Authors traded tips on how to be gracious to readers without having to endlessly repeat themselves. The star power was high: the authors included Julia Glass, Andre Debus III, Gail Tsukiyama, Garth Stein, Janelle Brown, Joshua Henkin, Diana Spechler, John Nathan, Selden Edwards, Marisa De Los Santos, Julia Flynn Siler, and David Corbett. I am sure there were many others I did not recognize in my two-glasses-of-wine-on-an-empty-stomach-haze.

At the end of the evening, Sam Barry was playing tunes on a white grand piano in the corner. Kathi Kamen Goldmark was leading a group of the less-musically gifted in song, and revelry filled the room.

The next morning I moderated a panel called Self-Discovery Through Friendship. It was very well-attended, probably because Kate Jacobs, the author of the very popular The Friday Night Knitting Club was there. (The book has sold more than one million copies and the sequel, Knit Two, comes out Nov. 25^th) Annie Barrows, the co-author of the best-selling Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, was also a huge draw. The book, co-written with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer, who died before she saw its great success, is on the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Amazon best seller lists.

The other authors were Ron Carlson, who heads up the fiction writing program at the University of California at Irving. He is the author of many short stories, as well as Five Skies, a beautifully written novel about three men on a construction project in Idaho. Carlson so accurately captures the way men communicate – or don’t communicate – in this book. The three men, all wounded at the start of the book, work side by side constructing a road and ramp in a pristine part of paradise. Carlson describes in detail the construction and it, in essence, becomes a character in a book.

The last author was Deborah Copaken Kogan, whose first novel, Between Here and April, has just been released. Kogan also wrote the memoir Shutterbabe, and a memorable essay in The New Yorker about her son, an actor.

I had not realized before the panel that Kogan’s book is based on her life. It tells the story Elizabeth, whose best friend in first grade suddenly disappears. No one explains the girl's disappearance and it is not until years later that Elizabeth, by then a successful journalist, discovers that April was murdered by her mother. The book follows Elizabeth’s quest to better understand what happened.

Cogan spent three years trying to write this book as non-fiction but finally realized that the facts could not sufficiently explain what drove a young mother to kill her children. So she fictionalized the book to get close to the truth. The audience really responded to her story.

The rest of the day was spent in a whirl of talking, talking, talking, gawking, and thumbing through the huge number of books for sale.