Save the Date - Sept. 13

Book launch celebration

Promise in the Desert will be officially released into the world on Sept. 5, a day chosen by my publisher. “Too close to Labor Day for a party,” I thought. I approached a local book dealer with whom I had been chatting regularly about holding a launch event on Saturday, Sept. 13. She said “sure.”

Anticus - Fine Art, Books, Jewelry & Design

Primarily an art gallery located in Old Town Scottsdale, Anticus features shelves of books standing beneath paintings and behind sculptures. The book store manager runs three different book clubs—which is how I got involved in the first place—and collaborates with the owner on events featuring multiple artistic media. I attended one evening “salon” that mixed paintings, books, and wine tasting, MC’d by the owner himself.

Anticus customarily hosts three-hour book signings. I wanted something different, and because I was a known quantity, the manager said yes. Here’s the program:

• Beginning at 2:00pm, members of my “street team”—the eleven newsletter readers who volunteered to help promote the launch—will greet arriving guests.

• At 2:30, the program will begin. Mary Jo West (see below) and I will interview each other, each telling stories about interesting Arizona people we have worked with or written about, and how and why we did so. I will ask her a bunch of questions, then she will ask me a bunch, and Q&A will follow. The formal program should last about an hour. (Mary Jo is reading the book as I write.)

• At 4:00, if guests so desire, I will talk about the genesis of Promise in the Desert and the sequel I am now writing. I will hang around until 5:00pm to sign books for any stragglers and, eventually, help Anticus staff put away the folding chairs.

Mary Jo West

Soon after getting a degree in journalism, Mary Jo became Phoenix’s first prime time TV news anchorwoman in 1976. In the beginning, she received hate mail from viewers who did not like hearing a female voice on the air. But she stuck it out, expanded her beat to include stories with social significance, and was eventually invited by CBS News to go to New York to anchor their Nightwatch show. After a year in New York, Mary Jo decided she preferred the local scene and returned to Phoenix and another TV anchor position.

Throughout her career and in retirement, Mary Jo has promoted awareness of mental health issues and has been recognized nationally for her advocacy (by Oprah, among others). Her efforts have won her many friends and admirers in greater Phoenix, as well. She and I met while serving on the board of the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame, to which we were both inducted. (I was honored for leading the creation of the Arizona Science Center.)

Mary Jo is a woman who knows how to hold an audience. I look forward to our candid conversation on Sept. 13th.

Please join us if you can. RSVP to this post so I can tell Anticus how many chairs to set out. I will remind you closer to the date.

This is my third book launch, and I’ve done it differently each time: held it in different settings and in different formats, with different promotions. I will never be able to calculate which methods work “best”—too many variables. The only measure I can count on is your and other guests’ responses. I hope you will come, if you can, and tell me what you think.