I need to grow a beard
The reason I say this is because last night I stopped by the preparty for the Edgar Awards, and right away I felt like I stepped into some 19th century fishing village. Let's just say if I want to have a literary career, there's a good chance I'll have to grow a 'stache. And not a neatly trimmed Robert DeNiro in "Heat" beard, but some whiskered monstrosity I can hide small children in.
The night was a pleasure. It was my first time at this annual preparty, held at the legendary Black Orchid bookstore on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Lots of great writers showed up, everyone seemed like they'd known eachother for years, and we proved the theory that there's nothing authors appreciate more than free booze. And with all the fictional murders committed and dastardly plans devised by the folks in attendance, I was sure if we put our heads together we could have pulled off some sort of elaborate Ocean's Eleven type heist (Reed Farrell Coleman as George Clooney, Charles Todd as Brad Pitt, Laura Lippman as Julia Roberts, Ken Bruen as Elliot Gould. I'd play the Bernie Mac part). Maybe we'd knock off the Starbucks across the street, since they have more money than the Bellagio anyway.
Winning an Edgar can launch your career, boost sales, earn the respect and admiration of your peers, not to mention cause some good, old fashioned jealousy. While I was buying a copy of a book written by one of the nominees, another nominee came up to me and said, "Don't buy that book. I'm nominated against him." I bought the book, but told him I would probably hate it.
I had a chance to meet some real legends, some cool up-and-comers, people who work in publishing and/or cover the mystery scene. Bottom line, it was a trippy experience to be on the other side of this book thing, talking about my book instead of someone else's. It's something I'll have to get used to, after months of trying to be modest about my writing. But at least I'll have my beard to keep me company.
The reason I say this is because last night I stopped by the preparty for the Edgar Awards, and right away I felt like I stepped into some 19th century fishing village. Let's just say if I want to have a literary career, there's a good chance I'll have to grow a 'stache. And not a neatly trimmed Robert DeNiro in "Heat" beard, but some whiskered monstrosity I can hide small children in.
The night was a pleasure. It was my first time at this annual preparty, held at the legendary Black Orchid bookstore on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Lots of great writers showed up, everyone seemed like they'd known eachother for years, and we proved the theory that there's nothing authors appreciate more than free booze. And with all the fictional murders committed and dastardly plans devised by the folks in attendance, I was sure if we put our heads together we could have pulled off some sort of elaborate Ocean's Eleven type heist (Reed Farrell Coleman as George Clooney, Charles Todd as Brad Pitt, Laura Lippman as Julia Roberts, Ken Bruen as Elliot Gould. I'd play the Bernie Mac part). Maybe we'd knock off the Starbucks across the street, since they have more money than the Bellagio anyway.
Winning an Edgar can launch your career, boost sales, earn the respect and admiration of your peers, not to mention cause some good, old fashioned jealousy. While I was buying a copy of a book written by one of the nominees, another nominee came up to me and said, "Don't buy that book. I'm nominated against him." I bought the book, but told him I would probably hate it.
I had a chance to meet some real legends, some cool up-and-comers, people who work in publishing and/or cover the mystery scene. Bottom line, it was a trippy experience to be on the other side of this book thing, talking about my book instead of someone else's. It's something I'll have to get used to, after months of trying to be modest about my writing. But at least I'll have my beard to keep me company.
posted by Jason Pinter at
9:11 AM
4 Comments:
Jason, thanks for stopping by the blog -- and congrats on the book deal. I'm told by quite a few MIRA authors that it's a great house.
My pleasure, hope I can add to the discussion, and I can't wait to read your book. I'm very psyched about MIRA, after being primarily known for romantic suspense they're launching a thriller program (kicking off with the James Patterson-edited anthology THRILLER this summer). I belive I'm the first debut male author they've signed up. Cause I'm all about diversity, you know.
Check out www.nycbeard.com for some beard styling suggestions and their cool event coming up in May.
Thanks for the heads up Rachel. And if anyone doesn't think I'm showing up wearing this (courtesy of the gracious Sarah Weinman), you're crazy.
http://www.stuartmacbride
.com/en/attachments/DIY-beard.pdf
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