The signing and “birthday party” at BEA went well. I was signing BLADs for three hours straight yesterday afternoon. I was happy to have met an awful lot of people who championed the book, which was gratifying. And of course, my trusty agent Peter and the folks at Tin House were there to lend their support.
You may be wondering who “Walt” is. The gentleman who has been so gracious as to serve as our “Walt” in the video and at yesterday’s little party is one of my best friends, Bill. Bill lives on the other side of my town, out in the woods running along Rancocas Creek. Over the winter he grew out his beard, and I think we were all amazed when we popped the hat onto his head for the first time. His resemblance to Whitman has certainly come in handy.
He’s a very quiet, thoughtful man, which only accentuates his Whitmanesque aura. Anyway, he’s been such a good sport over the past couple months, so the least I could do was make sure he got some cake and beer yesterday while I manned my table. I think he enjoyed the attention, too.
(I also think he enjoyed “loafing” on the new omnibuses.)
