My husband didn’t know the meaning of his Japanese middle name until he married me.
I broke the bad news to him. "Third Son."
"What?"
"Number Three Boy." It was plain, it was boring, and it was also totally true. Two older brothers had come before him. To be branded the third is a youngest child’s nightmare.
I’ve been thinking a lot about threes these days because my third mystery that’s coming out at the end of April. With each book has come different feelings. The first book–EUPHORIA, I’m in, ask me anything about publishing, I know all. The second book–total FEAR of the sophomore slump syndrome, is my writing career over? And now the third book–a tiny bit JADED, I kind of know the drill, but I also realize that I know little at all.
Three Little Things I Definitely Know About the Book Biz
- Do not wear a top with a large floral design in your author’s photo. You will look like a yakuza with a total upper body tattoo. You will also be contending with the same photo three years later.
- L.A. is a good place for a writer without a touring budget to live (that is, if you bought property in the 1990s or earlier!). Did you know that more books are purchased in our corner of the Left Coast than anywhere else in the U.S.? (Who would have thunk it?) To honor the area and help out-of-towners negotiate our knotty mass, I will be doing occasional profiles of local booksellers, librarians, newspapers, book festival planners, and media escorts in this space. Included will be cheap but good places to eat (a necessity!) and driving instructions. Many people are sold on GPS, but any device that tells someone to take the 5 N to the 110 N to go from Irvine to Pasadena at the height of rush hour on a Friday evening needs its chip examined. (FYI, for this route, it’s much more saner to travel on the 57 N to the 210 W.)
- Change is inevitable. Change before change gets you. Stay tuned for more about that.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you and my blogmates better as I travel this third year of mysterydom. Ichi, ni, san–let’s go!
So that explains it… I’m the third child.I am so excited to hear more about the L.A. scene. Nice job.
You don’t look like a Yakuza at all! Your hair is too long..
Yeah, but I’m also missing part of my little finger.
I never knew that. We should talk.
I loved the entry, Naomi — informative, wonderful personality and pithy.
thank you,Pari
Great info, Naomi! As a fellow Angeleno, looking forward to your future posts. Should be very helpful! (Enjoyed meeting you at The Mystery Bookstore, too.)
Hey, Brett–
It was also great for me to meet a fellow Bantam author! Folks, check out Brett’s blog–he has such an interesting publishing story. And Brett, stayed tuned to murderati–a lot of good stuff on booksellers a few days before the L.A. Times Festival of Books and afterwards.
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This is a good article! I like it very much,but If you can add more video and pictures can be much better, I have never read such a lovely article and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading.
If you are afraid to express, or fear of what will be, missed only once a lifetime of love may be,