In case you were wondering, that is not me in the photograph. I can’t even remember the plot for V for Vendetta and I really don’t know anything about Guy Fawkes day, but November 5th is a day I will never forget. You see, way back in November of 2009, I went to Texas to interview Khristian Oliver, a man who was scheduled to be executed on November 5. I did this for my thesis about death and death professions at Goucher College. This thesis later became the book Death Becomes Us.
Anyway, meeting Khristian Oliver had a huge impact on my life. Call me naive or whatever, but I couldn’t believe that the state of Texas was going to kill someone. And they did. I was right outside. And then I went to a funeral home and there he was, cold and lifeless on a gurney. It was absolutely horrifying and surreal.
Then I met his girlfriend, Sonya Reed, who is also incarcerated but shouldn’t be and I adopted her feral cat from the women’s death row unit and went to a Pentecostal Church and scared a bunch of people, mainly myself, and well…read the book. Or just read old entries on this blog.
Anywho, when my agent was unable to sell it to a traditional publisher, I decided to publish it on my own as a way to honor all those people who let me take a peek into their lives. I released it in November of 2015. In February of 2016, I was interviewed by Krys Boyd on NPR’s think and to this day, it has been the highlight of my writing life.
Fastforward a few years. I had an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and what did I do with all that serious nonfiction training? I’ll tell you what I did. I wrote a very weird book about a menopausal vampire on a quest to become mortal again. You would think I would have learned my lesson after the first book. You know, write something that is on an agent’s wishlist. But no, I didn’t do that. Most publishing houses had strung up strands of garlic to keep the vampire tales away. I was told there were too many of them (thanks Twilight and the vampirepalooza it inspired) and they were oh so tired of reading yet another blood sucking novel no matter how original it might be. So, I opted for a small publisher (Fawkes Press, not Guy Fawkes Press, but hmmmmm) with a release date of, you guessed it, November 5, 2020.
And then we all know what happened in 2020. There was a lack of toilet paper. Everyone started baking sourdough bread. I got to hide my RBF behind a mask. I started a book club on Facebook to help other debut authors who had to cancel their launch and in person events.
And then about a month and a half before my book peeked it’s pasty little face out into the sun, the unthinkable happened. First, my stepdad died, and then five days later, my mom became extremely sick and was admitted to the hospital with Covid. It was horrible. It’s still horrible. She died October 21, 2020.
So, let’s just say my head, or my heart, wasn’t in the marketing game after the book’s release. I did manage to get interviewed by Ron Charles of the Washington Post because he loved my press release for the blood drive I had orchestrated for the book’s launch. And then a book to film agent called and wanted to work on getting Forever 51 turned into a series.
So, why am I telling you all of this? It’s November 5th. My book baby is now this many.
So, happy birthday, Veronica and Jenny! I loved getting to know you and bringing your stories to life. I am foregoing the cake and opting for something warm, dark, and red to celebrate your first birthday! Here’s to many more!
f you’d like to gift someone a signed copy of Forever 51 for the holidays, I have a few copies collecting dust on my bookshelf. For twenty bucks, I will sign/inscribe something to your BFF and pop it in the mail for you.
