Friends, it is early December, which means that it is time for our (almost) yearly appearance at Book Plate, the venue of our first-ever public appearance some seven long years ago.
It was at Book Plate on December 1, 2006 that we debuted our homespun edition of Ten Thousand Stories. And it will be at Book Plate on December 6, 2013 that we will have the official Chestertown unveiling of the Chronicle Books edition.
First off, the details for this Friday. We’ll be at Book Plate starting around 6:00 or so if you want to stop by and say hi, or stop by and have a book signed. At 6:30 or so, we’ll give an informal presentation.
No whizbang graphics this time around. Just two two of us standing at the front of the room telling the story of how we got from December 1, 2006 to having our book published by Chronicle. It’s an affirming story of persistence, surprising twists, and inordinate heaps of good luck.
Please drop by, if only for a second. We’d love to see you there.
Now, then, glancing back through the years. Here’s how we looked on December 1, 2006.
I still have that shirt. I think I wore it last week. I guess that’s not something I should admit.
And here is the cake Book Plate proprietor Tom Martin had made for the occasion. It was a delicious cake with frosting that featured the covers of our first two Idiots’Books volumes, Facial Features of French Explorers and Death of Henry. Just last week, we sent out volume 40.
This was the Idiots’ catalog back then: Facial Features, Death of Henry, Ten Thousand Stories, My Henderson Robot, For the Love of God, and A Bully Named Chuck.
And here is the crowd for our “talk” that first night. Back then we lacked slides. We lacked social graces. We lacked something to say. Back then, we had made but three books and had no idea what we were doing. Now we’ve made 52 books and have no idea what we’re doing.
Perhaps that’s progress.
I remember staring out at that handful of eager, supportive faces, looking for the right words to convey my excitement to be there, in that moment, sharing the books I’d made with Robbi with the people we love.
I’d sure be happy to see some of their faces in the crowd on Friday night.
