In addition to finally taking care of a few long-neglected chores around the house, I’ve been using these unusual days of Staying-The-Hell-Home to better prepare myself for the upcoming release of my book, “Stone Motel – Memoirs of a Cajun Boy.” Here’s an update on the book launch:

Books o’ Goshen! The publisher, University Press of Mississippi, tells me that, despite all the weirdness out there in the world, my book will be delivered in mid-April, as anticipated. If you ordered yours directly through them or through another source, you should be getting it delivered to your door soon.

And there has never been a better time to sit and read a book or two (or ten)! If you haven’t ordered a copy, you can do that online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound (Independent Sellers).

My hope is that you will enjoy being entrapped in my world for long enough that you will forget, for a little while at least, that we’re all entrapped right now in something beyond our control (which is not nearly as nice as reading a book – even one about my less-than-perfect adolescence).

Book Tour de Farce! I was finalizing plans for a book launch tour down Louisiana way from May 9th to the 20th when – BLAM!!! – all this virus chaos started unfurling in real time here in the U.S.

I had arranged for a reading/book signing at Octavia Books in Uptown New Orleans, and another at Barnes & Noble in Lafayette, La., which is the biggest bookseller in the Acadiana region of the state.

In Eunice, La. (where the book is set) there was also to be a fundraiser for the Doris Stagg Scholarship Fund, featuring readings of three monologues from the book (one each from my mother, father, and grandmother) at the Players’ Theater. Also in Eunice, I had arranged appearances at Beaucoup (an enchanting menagerie of a store featuring the work of local artisans) and the LSU-E Bookstore, both of which will be selling my book. Before leaving Eunice, there was to be a stop at L’Acadie Inn, the motel that once was The Stone, for a reading there. I was then to head to Cottonwood Books in Baton Rouge before flying back to New York.

But all that is now going to have to wait. I definitely plan to make all this happen soon when people can gather again without fearing for their wellbeing.

I haven’t cancelled my flights (airlines ask that we wait for the week of our flight to check/cancel/adjust), but I’m pretty sure New Orleans still won’t be a place to move around much in mid-May (which is just sad on all counts – New Orleans typically pulls up its post-Mardi Gras hoop skirts and sashays all spring long, starting with it’s inimitable Jazz and Heritage Fest, which has been postponed until autumn).

The Audio-dasity! Meanwhile, while I was to be in Louisiana promoting the book, I was also planning to spend time recording the audiobook. And now that, too, is in limbo – but something that I am determined to get done asap, because I know many people prefer to consume books that way. As you might imagine, for the audiobook, I’ll be doing my best to capture the Cajun accents/patois that are all over the book.

The silver lining here is – if you’ve got the book ordered for delivery – you’ll have it soon and (using up some of this unplanned home-time) be able to check right into the Stone Motel.

Good Health to us all!

M

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