Secret Sex Lives is racing toward its October 2, 2012, publication date and life seems to be getting crazier and crazier and bumpier and bumpier. In my head, I keep hearing the Bette Davis quote from All About Eve: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Okay, more accurately, I keep hearing the revised version of that quote, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
But no matter what, right now it is an excitingly good bumpy ride, like a Six Flags roller coaster ride.
For example, and for those who follow me here, you know that last weekend, I did my first “sex” Q&A at the Writers’ League of Texas annual agents conference. I was so nervous about the talk that the night before I slept for two or three hours, woke up and prayed for two or three hours, and then slept for another two or three hours. And that’s because the Q&A was actually about how to write sex without making your readers cringe, and I didn’t know how well I could answer that question because I have a feeling that Secret Sex Lives is going to make some readers cringe.
Now I’m hearing in my head, Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Seinfeld talk about being “sponge-worthy.” And I’m thinking, hmm, is Secret Sex Lives cringe-worthy? I mean, there’s good cringe and bad cringe, just like there’s good bumpy (Six Flags roller coaster) and bad bumpy (a Southwest jet hitting air pockets over Las Vegas).
But back to the topic. The Q&A went great because I got to see how a general audience – meaning people who presumably have “normal” sex lives rather than “alternative” sex lives – would react to the book. And, thank God, they reacted very well.
The Q&A was also great because I got to see how I’d react to talking about sex in front of a crowd of strangers. To my relief, I didn’t freak, melt into a puddle, turn beet red, or jumble my words too horribly. And that was very good because we were videotaping the talk. (Yes, I know you want to see that tape. And I hope that someday I can post bits of it here.)
After the conference, I ran home to concentrate on galley proofs. Yep, the Secret Sex Lives galley proofs have arrived. They look great. And a few days after I got the galley proofs, I received a few advanced review copies of the book. Of course, at the conference, I carried one in my bag and let a few people – meaning EVERYONE attending the Q&A – get a sneak peek. Oh, no, not the words inside the book! Just the front cover. I’m even giving you one here.
"Secret Sex Lives" advance review copies.
I had to return the corrected proofs to New York on Monday, but I had trouble doing that. Not only was I having Internet problems, but while trying to scan and email the proofs, I kept getting interrupted. My amazing publicist, Heidi Richter at Penguin publishing, kept emailing me (thank God I could receive emails) to tell me great Secret Sex Lives news followed by FABULOUS Secret Sex Lives news. Alas, at this point, I can only share the great news: The editors of Publishers Weekly have named Secret Sex Lives one of their notable books for the fall season. YES!
Publishers Weekly
On that note, I’m going to get back in my roller coaster and fasten my seatbelt tight ’cause it’s going to be another crazy, bumpy ride. I hope you’ll join me on it. If you want, you can get daily updates about it on my Facebook page.
