Tag Archives: Anne Lamott

2012 Election Reflection

Obama family at 2012 election night acceptance speech

Presidential election night is such a nervous, glorious mishmash of emotions. I can think of no other event when something so big is decided so quickly. Sure, the election drags on forever, but despite the polls you never know for sure who’s going to win. Then everybody votes, we tally ’em up while some talking heads blather on, and it’s decided (usually: thank goodness for not repeating 2000). Done. The next four years are in place. History is written.

It’s big.

I have a hard time getting anything done on election day (that’s why I turned to a distraction). Even today I’ll need to process for a while (and I’m doing that here… get ready for a long post). Continue reading 2012 Election Reflection

Keeping Book Sales in Perspective

So my book, Addition by Adoption, officially released on Amazon last week. And so I began my fixation with Amazon’s sales rank, something I imagine most authors go through (whether or not they admit it).

Before the May 11 release date the book’s Amazon sales rank was in the 500,000 range. Not too shabby, considering the millions of books that are published, right? Then on Tuesday the popularity surge began. It zoomed into the top 100,000, eventually settling as high as 55,721. It did end up at #35 in the adoption category.

Whoa. I know, right?

I assumed my book must be selling like hotcakes. Wow. All my hard work trying to spread the word about this thing (i.e., being annoying) must be paying off.

Not quite. Turns out the Amazon sales rank doesn’t mean as much as you might think. Depending on what you read and who you believe, cracking the top 100,000 might mean you’ve sold a single copy lately. Cracking the top 10,000 might mean you’ve sold a dozen copies. The top 1,000 might mean 50 copies.

It’s all relative. It’s all fluctuating. It’s all meaningless.

Just as quickly as my book surged, it also flopped. Today we’re sitting at 483,172. Total monthly sales to date? Seven. I don’t know what ‘selling like hotcakes’ actually means, but I’m pretty sure it’s more than seven.

Continue reading Keeping Book Sales in Perspective

Why Doesn’t Anne Lamott Have a Web Site?

A couple weeks ago I discovered that one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott, doesn’t have a web site. She’s got a Wikipedia page, the speaking agency representing her has a page, Salon.com has a list of her columns—heck, there’s even my Anne Lamott Squidoo page. But Anne Lamott herself has no official web site.

How can a well-known author not have a web site in 2008?

Sadly, I asked that same question in 2005.

So here’s the deal, Anne: Drop me a line and I’ll build you a web site.

Continue reading Why Doesn’t Anne Lamott Have a Web Site?

More from Anne Lamott: Grace (Eventually)

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne LamottThat “Jesusey” Anne Lamott is back with another book on faith, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, releasing March 20, 2007. It looks like more in the vein of Traveling Mercies and Plan B, which means more talking about Jesus and using the ‘f’ word, often in the same sentence.

Which is OK by me, but a more cynical person might think Lamott has found the formula for publishing riches (or at least enough cash to get by, which is really all any writer wants).

Anne Lamott: Abortion a “Moral Necessity”

I like Anne Lamott. I really do. I even put up with her wacky universalism. But it’s comments like these in a pro-abortion op-ed piece in the L.A. Times that I can’t handle:

It is a moral necessity that we not be forced to bring children into the world for whom we cannot be responsible and adoring and present. We must not inflict life on children who will be resented; we must not inflict unwanted children on society.

Forced? Since when was having sex forced (obviously it happens in rare instances like rape and incest, but that’s not the main discussion here)? Usually it’s a choice to drop your pants and jump in bed. If we must not “inflict life on children who will be resented” than the solution isn’t abortion, it’s abstinence.

I like sex as much as the next guy, but sex has consequences. Wonderful, beautiful consequences. And if you can’t handle those consequences, if you’re not responsible enough, then keep your pants on. If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.

Sex is not an unalienable right. It’s a responsibility. Maybe that’s a stodgy viewpoint, but it seems pretty basic to me. Ignoring the biological purpose of sex for the benefit of our own pleasure is a bit messed up. I’m all for the pleasure—have fun. But with it comes responsibility. The two can’t be separated. (link via CT’s Weblog)

The Non-Promotion Author: Anne Lamott

Today I went to Barnes & Noble and asked about the aforementioned Anne Lamott book. The bookseller looked at me quizzically and then led me towards the Christian Inspiration section (wha!?) where we found a copy of Traveling Mercies, but no Plan B. Then he led me to the computer and searched for the book, found it, poked around at the search results for a while before telling me it’s not available yet.

Apparently it comes out tomorrow. But the guy couldn’t tell me that.

How is it that an author as well-known as Anne Lamott can have such a hodge-podge promotional strategy? Granted she’s no Stephen King, but she has quite a following. Shouldn’t the guy at Barnes & Noble know her book is coming out? Shouldn’t a fan like me have heard about the book a while ago? Shouldn’t I get something better than old Powells and Christianity Today interviews when I search Google? There’s her Salon.com archives, but those end in October 2004, making you wonder if she couldn’t handle another Bush presidential victory and gave up the column. The best I can come up with is her page on the Steven Barclay Agency site.

Sigh. Not even a web site. How can an author in 2005 not have their own web site? For someone like me who has blogs and web sites on the brain, it’s inconceivable. Yet she does it.

New Anne Lamott

Wha!? Anne Lamott has a new book out! It’s called Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and looks like a follow-up to her most popular book yet, Traveling Mercies (the new book is currently selling faster on Amazon, but that doesn’t really mean much). That’s a good business move, though I’m sure she’ll spend a lot of unneccessary time bashing Bush.

So where was all the buzz about this book? I’m plugged in, I’m a happening guy–how come I didn’t hear about it? Is this what I get for growing tired of Salon.com? (news via The Paris Project)

A Holier-Than-Thou Nut Job

“Loving Bush: Day 2” by Anne Lamott: “Even though I’m addicted to hating the president, I’m trying to forgive him—as Jesus would. It’s not easy.”

Only Anne Lamott could talk about bringing the love of Christ to the realm of politics and not sound like a complete holier-than-thou nut-job. And it’s so entertaining to hear from someone who is as overboard about Jesus as they are about the Democrats.