Archives - Weekly Update

Crazy times call for us to get inventive. So on Wednesday, my son Greg shot our promo video of what we are going to share on the site this week in our family room. This means we now have two rooms in our house that are “sets” for shooting. The dining room is where I slide into for “Bookreporter Talks To” interviews. We have lights hung on a ladder in there and have draped blankets to cut down on the echo. Greg has loaned me a table he bought when the Plaza Hotel in New York was being renovated to use for displaying the featured book behind me. We are making it up as we go!

Spring has arrived! I am so ready for the flowers to start popping up and for more sunshine.

This week, except for a quick trip to the office on Monday to pick up some books, Greg and I have been locked down working from here at the house, while Tom and Austin are also working from their homes. But life has been anything but quiet.

Yes, I was supposed to be in Tucson this weekend for the Tucson Festival of Books, but alas, that --- like a number of other book and author events --- has been canceled. Yesterday, I realized that if an author handed aneditor a manuscript for a novel with everything that is going on right now written into it, I am betting they would redline about 1/4 of it and say, "Over the top; there is no way all of this would happen." This is a time when real life is absolutely crazier than fiction.

Today I bring you my annual idea that Daylight Saving Time should kick off on a Monday, not on a weekend day. I do not need an hour less of the weekend; I think we should lobby for this to happen on a Monday!

It was a super busy and book-filled week. On Monday night, I attended the 25th anniversary of the Audie Awards, which was hosted by Mo Rocca, the “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent, author and host of the “Mobituaries” podcast. I have not been to this ceremony before and am so glad I went. It was terrific in that it gave me some more intel about the audio business --- and it was brisk, with wonderful presenters and very few speeches.