And on and on we go.
The front flap is thus. An excerpt and a quick summary. The back flap is the standard author photo and bio. The back cover is blurbville.
And then, you know, the spine, etc. This thing is almost done. The product. It’s going to go to a factory and become a thing.
A real thing. Holy fuck…
So I made Paste’s Best Twitter Accounts list. That’s three years running. I’m beginning to think I owe them money or something. Yes, I know, I said something about year end lists previously. But there’s something about the Paste list that is very edifying. Always has been. Look who else is on it! Um clears throat I mean, I’m in good company.
Yes, yes, yes. I know what I just wrote here. So what? This is my website.
Some quick stats:
Over 13,000 page views this year. For some people, that’s a good hour on their website. Or a few minutes. But that’s what I got all year. I think that’s less than 2012. I think I was busier this past year. Yes, that sounds good. I’m going to stick to that. Here’s the chart:
And then where y’all came from:
Broken down by city:
And finally, what you looked at. Look at #10. I tag my tweets so you can search by keyword. I also have “themes” you can search. You dirty buggers.
I know, I know, it’s not the end of the year. But I’m not going to amend this. Because revisiting would mean the slow inexorable descent to nostalgia that I am on record as abhorring. So, um, to end this year on the moral high ground, no. I won’t redo this post. You can’t make me.
All this to say thank you. Thanks for coming here. Thanks for leaving comments. Thanks for reading and playing around with my twisters. Thanks for thinking of me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I really do.
Here’s to a great 2014! Some big things are in the air. Like this! Yes. I’m going to go around and read in places and sign books and meet so many of you. This spring. It’s going to be fun. Stay tuned for more info! Because it’s coming.
Happy New Year everyone! Remember, your resolutions are not valid if it means you can’t eat cheeseburgers.
As the year draws to a close, media is stuck in its annual paradox: it celebrates the past while looking forward…and completely ignoring the present. Best of lists proliferate, like jellyfish in an unbalanced sea, until you don’t even feign surprise to find a Best of Best of list, or, at the very least, a list of Best of lists or the most read Best of lists…..Lists are an industry and there are people who’s job it is to just keep track of things so they can create decent Best of lists.
Look, I like the lists too. I’ve even been on some of them. But Best of lists are nothing if not nostalgia, or, perhaps, a way to catch up on what’s been going on while you were too busy. So then, the Best of lists perform a function: they fill in the gaps, and so, like some awesome Tetris expert, a well curated selection of Best Of lists can keep you in the know on an annual basis, and give you something to talk about at New Year’s gatherings before you’ve had too much and are well on the way to oblivion.
Here’s what I don’t like: nostalgia. I never have. Yes, I have cried during It’s a Wonderful Life, but that’s not because I’m nostalgic but because it’s a damned fine movie, ok? Nostalgia seems to me like a nub on a branch that becomes regret. Because the other way to look at all those lists is: Look at all this great stuff I missed out on! Why didn’t I hear about all this? I’m so out of it! I’m such a loser!!!!
and the best reaction:
I need the media to keep me abreast of everything because I miss out on great stuff and don’t hear about it because I’m so out of it and such a loser!!!
So, loser. Why live in the past? I’m not saying never say never forget. Or that ignorance is bliss. Because neither of them are true. Yes, those that forget history are condemned to repeat it. We say that because it’s true. Even those that remember history repeat the mistakes of history. Even nostalgic people repeat the mistakes – for varying reasons.
But nostalgia is a lie. Nostalgia is a sugarcoated reading of some things that happened and a lot of things that didn’t happen. Nostalgia is nothing more than an incompetent memory. And incompetence is in the top five evils in the world. Right up there with indifference, and, well, I forget what the other ones are. But one of them might be Wal-Mart.
So, screw nostalgia. And while we’re at it, screw its twin: the futurist.
Happy Holidays!
Blurbs are rolling in. Rolling, rolling, rolling…
The one on the front cover is from Douglas Coupland: “Waiting for the Man is a strangely engrossing, meticulously written allegory of the present moment.”
This is from Jonathan Goldstein (host of one of the best shows on radio, Wiretap) and a great writer himself: “With Waiting For The Man, Twitter phenom Arjun Basu breaks free of the 140-character box to pen a novel full of yearning, soulfulness, cool wit, and precise social commentary. It’s the expansive work that the Twitter faithful have been waiting for. And their man delivers”
From Stephen Marche, writer, wit, all around smarty pants, and blogger on esquire.com: “Arjun Basu is a master of writing tiny narrative jewels, with surprises built into every single sentence. Waiting for the Man is, somehow, a whole novel full of such surprising and perfect delights.”
And this from Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall: “For a novel in part about the cynicism of marketing, this would be hard to pitch in an elevator. How do you ask someone to imagine Waiting for Godot written by an internet-addicted Joseph Heller – or, even less likely, a warm-hearted Brett Easton Ellis? This book is wonderfully hard to pin down. You’ll just have to read it for yourself.”
Blurbs are a funny thing. You send a book out to people you respect and you hope they respond. Years ago, the late great SPY magazine had a feature called “Logrolling in our Time” that showed two writers praising the hell out of each other’s work. It was funny and in SPY fashion a clever way to show you what kind of bullshit blurbs (think of a movie campaign without critics’ praise…just try) can be. And I’ve always kind of believed that. But… I know the four people who have blurbed my book so far. And that doesn’t negate how proud each one made me, or the sincerity of what they said. Because they were sincere. I mean, come on.
So far, two mention my Twitterness, and two don’t. As more come in, this will be an interesting bit of math to watch.
You can enter to win a copy of an ARC (advance reader copy) of my upcoming novel over at Goodreads. How fun is that? The contest is open December 4 to January 4 and is open to residents of the US and Canada (sorry everyone else in the world… for real). So go for it! I’m sure this will be the first of many marketing initiatives between now and April 15. But just so we’re clear: none of the marketing will involve me being naked. Because I love all of you too much.
So I received the real deal. Well, close. This is what’s going to go to reviewers. And it has blurbs on it. The cover has a blurb from Douglas Coupland. It’s a very Couplandesque blurb:
On the back, blurbs from Jonathan Goldstein and Stephen Marche:
The whole thing feels kind of thrilling. I’m trying to act cool. Coolish.
It’s not a good thing. You get obsessed with the wordcount and not the words. You start to take shortcuts, or want to, because you’re not looking at the right thing, for the right reason, and you’re not doing the work.
I know this and I know it to be true, it’s a truism it’s so true, and yet I just did it. Fuck.
Don’t count your words. Ever. Nothing good can come of it. Wordcounts don’t matter. Words do.
Wordcounts are for editors.
Right here. Looks kinda awesome, no?