Just like I didn’t really have a clue as to all that went into the writing of a book, on the day I started, and just like I wasn’t even all that aware of how much time, focus, and dedication would go into the editing once the writing was done, the publicity side of the process was all kind of a fog to me, as well. That’s why I hired Elon Werner to represent me. Had I tried to do this myself, the results would’ve likely resembled the Hindenburg upon its fateful arrival at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

So, the book has now been out and for sale for a full month. As expected, the initial flurry of sales were strong and not a huge surprise, although definitely a heartwarming deal. It was great to watch the ranking soar because it confirmed, to me, that a lot of people were looking forward to the release of “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” and they made that known by buying it. Now, weeks later, had Mr. Werner not been in charge of the publicity and had I tried to do that part of the deal myself, we’d be winding down and saying, “Well, that was fun. What’s next?”

With Elon at the PR helm, what’s next is the first big ramp-up of interviews after a few important ones got us started over the last month. He’s “en fuego” right now when it comes to lining up interviews. As of this hour, I have six scheduled chronologically on the print-out he emailed me this morning, with four of those being “live” shows on the radio. This afternoon, I’m doing a racing podcast out of Salt Lake City, and then all the others will happen in succession. I won’t post a schedule here, because media work is notoriously hard to totally pin down before it happens and you often have to be flexible. Breaking news changes everything. Or, once again referring to the mammoth airship mentioned in the first paragraph, you don’t want to be the guy who throws his first no-hitter on the day the Hindenburg crashes and burns.

And the good news is, Elon is working well out into the future to keep the pipeline full. As we approach each of the 10 NHRA races I’m going to attend, he’ll be out in front of that working with the local media in each market. I just did one of those this week, with a very smart and talented writer for the Sandusky Register, just north of Norwalk where the tour is this weekend. Having been a part of countless interviews like this, when I was representing my NHRA drivers, I know how “all over the board” writers can be in terms of taking notes or keeping up with the person they’re interviewing, and then being able to coherently put it all back together for the actual story.

Mark Hazelwood did the interview for the paper, and we just engaged in a free-flowing 15 minute conversation, banging around from topic to topic and careening into different subjects. It was great fun, but it was even more fun to see him have it expertly put together and on the paper’s website just hours later. Here it is, if you haven’t seen it yet:

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/story/201706200051

So on we go, with a process that keeps the book “out there” in the public eye and which digs down deeper to new layers of potential readers and purchasers. I’m learning a lot, being led by the best.

We’re also up to six wonderful reviews on Amazon, and are about to land a few professional reviews from websites, newspapers, and magazines, which takes us into a whole new level of exposure. Fingers crossed the pro reviews aren’t horrible. And in terms of that, one of my favorite bad reviews of all time came from our school newspaper at SIUE, the Daily Alestle (which stood for Alton, East St. Louis, and Edwardsville, the three campus locations for the school when it originally opened.) They reviewed a concert at the historic old Mississippi River Festival and the warm-up act for that show was the band Head East. After writing a generally positive review for the main act, the reporter then wrote, “As for Head East. They should.”

Here at the homestead, it’s our first really dreary and sort of miserable day in a long time. We’d been on such a roll of beautiful June days, with only a few early-morning thunderstorms thrown in, I was getting spoiled. Today is the kind of day that makes you want to stay in bed with the boyz and just listen to the rain fall. It’s coming straight down, not too heavy, from a leaden sky. Hopefully it clears up in time for the Twins and White Sox to finish their three-game series today.

I’m not heading to Target Field today, but Tuesday was the evening I went down there to meet up with my old Sauget Wizard teammate John Parke. Talk about not obsessing over details or over-analyzing things. Our entire plan was this: John would call when he landed at MSP. Then we’d figure it out.

He rented a car, so we both drove to Minneapolis, a place he’d never driven around much or at all, but once he was within a few blocks of the ballpark he called again and I let him know he was close and that he should just park at whichever surface lot he saw next. He was exactly two blocks from where I was parked and waiting for him. Go figure.

I’d gotten our tickets through my Flex Plan app, and we also decided to try the “Upgrade” button on my phone to see how that worked. Our original seats where in the lower boxes down the right field line, up in row 33. When we upgraded for just a few bucks, we were moved to behind the 3rd-base dugout, in the lower boxes, but down in row 12. The way it worked was we used my phone to get our original seats scanned and gain entrance to the ballpark, then we went to our new section and just showed my upgrade form, on my iPhone, to the usher. Badda boom, badda bing. Great seats, too.

John and I fell right back into the exact types of conversations we had whenever we saw each other last. Neither of us was sure when that was, but we were both guessing 25 years ago. We had a lot of catching up to do, in terms of jobs, families, wives, and homes. It was great fun, and once all the news was exchanged we slipped right into baseball, both the games we’d played and the characters we played with, as well as the game on the field. It was terrific. And, it was fantastic to see him. JP was one of my all-time favorite teammates and one of the best friends I ever made in the sport. We need to do a better job of staying in touch.

He also really liked the ballpark (who doesn’t?) and Minneapolis. I very much enjoy showing people around both Minneapolis and St. Paul when they come to town for the first time. It allows me to see the cities through fresh eyes, and appreciate again how great both places are. We’re fortunate we live here, and it’s why we vowed to come back after our time out in Spokane.

And because my life is all about sports, sports, and more sports, last night I flipped back and forth on the TV between the Twins – White Sox game and the Minnesota United – Portland Timbers match from TCF Stadium, just a mile or two east of Target Field. It was big night for sports, sports, and more sports in Minneapolis. A bit more than 18,400 watched the Loons beat the Timbers 3-2, while about 33,000 watched the Twins beat the White Sox 4-2. And if you were in the right high-rise in Minneapolis, like say the sumptuous Carlyle (a place Barbara and I often drool over when thinking of downtown condo life) you could’ve easily seen the lights from both stadiums. And since a huge percentage of both Twins and Loons fans arrive by light-rail, and the line runs right by both stadiums, I’m sure those train cars were full of boisterous fans of both teams.

I leave you, today, with this example of just what a sleepy day it is in Woodbury. Not that a perfectly sunny day is any less sleepy for Buster (or Boofus) but there’s a little more relaxation going on when you get to sleep amidst all your toys in your kitty condo while the gentle rain plinks off the window right behind you. He was not, however, very pleased with me this morning when I broke his revery by actually getting  up and out of the bed he owns, but allows us to sleep in. Boofus wasn’t very happy about it either. I even heard a squawk or two from them as they stretched and slowly eased their way into new locations. Tough life.

Time to get ready for my podcast interview. And then off we’ll go on a nearly daily basis for weeks, if not months to come.

Thank you all, for the support, for buying the book, and for the fantastic reviews. It all means the world to me.

And remember (because I only write this every week). If you just read this blog and you liked it, please “Like” it by clicking on the button at the top. See you next week!

Bob Wilber, at your service on a dreary rainy day.