I just returned from Atlantic City, where the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association was holding a meeting. Along with a group of authors, I was invited to participate in NAIBA’s Movable Feast luncheon, where the writers move from table to table and talk about their books—in my case, my novel Comeback Love—with buyers and sellers from independent bookstores.
Of course, this speed-dating stuff was new to me, since I started dating before it was invented, and all speed-dating meant in my day was that your date turned to you not long after the evening was underway and said: “Take me home. Now!”
Talking to book buyers and booksellers was a lot more fun than that experience, and having a chance to talk to so many remarkable writers at the pre-luncheon and hearing about the books they were about to publish was a blast.
There was Adam Gopnik, T.J. English, M.T. Anderson, Chandra Hoffman, Jim Murphy, Téa Obreht, Lincoln Peirce, Darrin Strauss, Jay Varner, Larry Levin, Joyce Hinnefeld, Hazel Rowley, and probably some I'm leaving out—with regret—because I enjoyed hearing about their books.
All in all I felt lucky to be there, and I was certainly luckier than usual because I won a whole $29 playing blackjack—mainly because I had the good sense to leave the table after playing just three hands.
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