Monday, November 4, 2013

Follow Your Fates and David Sedaris?

Wishful thinking I realize but not as wishful as you might think. I went to see Sedaris with my mom and wife last Tuesday and afterwards he had a book signing (not surprising). What was suprising, however, was the care and time with which he approached the signing. I had heard this in interviews with him but to see it in action was impressive to say the least. We started in the book signing line about at the mid point around 8.45. We made it to him a little before 11. And, again we were at the mid point of the line. Now waiting in line for four hours for a signed book notwithstanding, he was probably there until 1 AM or so, after performing / reading for over an hour and signing books beforehand, not to mention his travel schedule. So thank you, David Sedaris, for being a book-signing animal.

Now I tend to fall very low on the star struck scale and that goes as well for David Sedaris. He's a great writer and an even better speaker. I did too enjoy the variety of crowds that were in the David Sedaris, well, crowd: the cult followers, the gay crowd, and, the crowd in which I would put myself, the writer crowd, those that appreciate Sedaris' skill and talent but don't necessarily find his insights quite as earth-shattering as the cult followers do (i.e. I have similar revelations but can't come close to putting them to paper as skillfully). But I waited in line for the signing because I wanted to experience the book signing experience and because I figured it couldn't hurt to ask him if he would accept a Follow Your Fates book. And he did. I wish there were something more earth shattering to say than that. We talked for a few minutes, I asked if I could give him something, he said yes, and I gave him a copy of The Journey of Odysseus. He asked / confirmed that I had written it, which I affirmed, thanked me for it, and put it on his bag.

I of course had visions of him heading back to the Beachwood (we wondered whether or not he was staying in Worcester or Boston but he said that he was in Worcester) and unwinding after a long day of, well, Sedaris-ing with The Journey of Odysseus, after which, of course, he would start contacting all of his litterati friends to rave about this innovative and well-written book he had just read, at which point social media would start to explode with notices of it. Alas, my Twitter feed remains predictably, if slightly frustratingly, un-exploded (as do my royalty checks). But a man can hope, right?

So, Devid Sedaris, thank you for putting the time and work into both writing great pieces and putting on a great show, both on stage and off. And, if you're interested, there are two other books in the series....

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