The purpose of this post is to offer my heartfelt thanks to those of you (both givers and readers) participating in World Book Night. After the word went out and givers started signing up, I quickly realized I couldn’t manage to personally thank everyone in the manner they deserved, so I hope this post will go a little way toward doing that. Notes, photos (including the Beagle’s tattoo!), and a video after the break.
Over at the World Book Night Tumblr they’re taking book quotes and blocking them up. Here’s one from Population 485.
From the “P.S.” section of Population 485 (paperback only):
I breathed in that quiet firehouse fragrance (it’s a still smell…dampened notes of rubber, diesel, and concrete, all of it cushioned by undertones of smoked canvas).
Today’s procrastination enabled by pager; from 1st draft to driving an ambulance in the blink of a strobe. I love EMS/fire part of my life. Privilege.
Tomorrow my honorary nephew Connor McDowell will be competing in the Firefighter Combat Challenge finals. I don’t overdo the word “proud,” but I’m deploying it now. Well done, sir. (Live stream available at site)
This happened a few years back, and I think I posted these on the old version of the site, but just came across them again. One of my more memorable signings. Country music stars get asked to sign the ladies’…well…but when you write a book about fire and EMS this is as good as it gets. I was pretty nervous.
Some old Post-its I scribbled notes on down at the fire hall when I was working on Population 485. This October will mark ten years since that book came out and the reaction to it still surprises me in the most heartwarming ways. It was an honor to write about a place I love, and to write as best I could about fire and EMS from the perspective of the end of the hose and the back of the rig. For all the good things that have come my way, serving on the New Auburn Area Fire Department remains the most meaningful thing I’ve ever been allowed to do, and I still count it a privilege to carry a pager for the local crew.
The scribbles on the yellow Post-its were made after ambulance calls (I remember both calls – one silly, one very nasty – but have no idea what the math is about). The scribbles on the blue Post-it were made as I looked around the local park during Jamboree Days, which is happening again this weekend. Hoping to sneak up there for at least part of it, we’ll see.
For the moment (more on that later) Population 485 is also the only one of my titles available in audiobook form (iTunes and Audible).
Then this might be you, at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning when all your cohorts are texting and getting ready to go to the mall (thank you, dear patient daughter with pretend eye injury):
Inflate the blue one first.
(Thank you S. and K.!)
Just renewed my CPR license (thanks, Mark!) in order to keep current for this. Been recertifying in CPR for a quarter century now, and every time they change it up a little. Hardest to let go of ABC and go to CAB, but I like that now it’s pretty much down to “push on the chest.”
Done a fair bit of CPR in my life. Very first time (as I wrote about here) I forgot to put the one-way valve in the mask. Yah. Creamed corn. Never forgot again.
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