Yesterday was the publication day for "Let's Panic About Babies!" and I spent it badgering people on Twitter, eating omelets with Alice, harassing a nice young man at the NYU bookstore who knew that five copies of the book just had to be around here SOMEWHERE, and shopping for shoes that I didn't actually need. (No actual money was spent. Gotta earn back that advance!) In other words, yesterday was a little bit of a dream a come true. And yet, in all the excitement, I kept forgetting to enjoy it. It wasn't until I was on the subway this morning on the way to Alice's to do a radio interview with KORN-AM in Mitchell, South Dakota that I realized that being anxious about the fact that I was running on five hours of sleep wasn't going to make this any easier. I realized that I had to love being sleep-deprived and nauseated from reading Lonesome Dove on the F train and worried about sounding like an ass on the radio, because that was what was happening. And once I stopped fighting what was with some idea of what should be, I felt a lot better. Also, pushing that old lady down the stairs at the 4th Avenue exit helped, too.*
(Side note: if you have a small head cold it's hard to tell the difference between the sound of running water and the sound of rats scrabbling around the 14th Street station. And if wearing your eBay reading glasses pretty much constantly has somewhat corroded your long-distance vision, you'll never know which one it was.)
*Those stairs are steep!
I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who's supported the launch of this book by doing a giveaway, asking us to speak to them, spreading the panic online, making a brilliant video for us (SCOTT), and of course buying a copy or three of the book itself. I don't know that it will change the world, or anything, but it's pretty funny and some of it is actually true.
Here is a picture of Alice contemplating her future as a successful humorist:
