It's been a busy week with Taking Midway publicity. There's been a couple radio call-ins, a Zoom or two. I put on my best face and pick up the volume, then answer questions. There's no such thing as bad publicity and I'm enjoying every minute. The book is off to a good start. A lot of five-star Amazon reviews. There's always someone who sneaks in a three-star, or even a one-star, mostly based on issues having nothing to do with the book. Things like Springsteen in Manchester or the final chapters of Confronting the Presidents.
Some interviewers ask why I'm not working with Bill O' anymore. I just tell them fifteen years was great, but enough. No need to explain further. I think some people want to hear some terrible story, which just isn't the case. A fifteen-year relationship is hard to come by these days. Fourteen bestsellers and millions of books sold is the legacy.
It was time to go solo again. I'm a far better writer than I was fifteen years ago. The Taking books are stronger for all those years writing the Killing books. Not to disparage the Killing series, but the Taking books are better. More emotion. Better story. I'm seeing that in the reviews like the positive Wall Street Journal piece this week. I'm much more than a typist, as I was once described. I have a birthday coming up this week and many interviews ask if I plan to keep writing books. The answer is a definite yes. I plan to go out like William F. Buckley (or perhaps Nelson Rockefeller). Writing is like the air I breathe.
But Memorial Day has me thinking of what's next. I still need to find bandwidth to launch the podcast. Track season just ended, which means three weeks off before cross-country starts. I've got projects that will keep me busy writing through the end of September. With all the chaos in this house because of cancer and the busy writing and coaching schedule, you'd think I would embrace, say, a gap from October 1 until December 5 and the end of cross country.
I think, more than anything else, that I need to spend some of that downtime working on my health. I just had a great physical but this whole mind-body-life balance has me thinking of more than just selling books. I'd like to be more flexible, look less like a linebacker and more like the runner I've always been (let's just say the muscle and weight have been armor in a time of anxiety, as if might need to fight for my life. Now, it's time for that to go). I don't really need to run any more marathons but I sure would like to run up a mountain again. I'd also like to sleep better, not waking up at 3 a.m. to solve the world's problems.
I'll be 64 on Sunday for those keeping score at home. It's that point in life when your friends are celebrating their 70th, as happened to a buddy of mine last week. There was a slideshow. Lots of memories and smiles. I cried. Sometimes those slideshows feel like a summation, as if the celebration of life memorial service is next week. I don't buy into that. But I'm cognizant that there is a point where I need to start making a list of all the books I will regret on my deathbed not writing if I don't do them now.
Weird, isn't it? To steal a line from Ferris Bueller:
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
So today we celebrate the lives lost by our servicemen near and far by living our own lives to the fullest.