I totally forgot that I was gonna say that in the same way that you are not just "Randy from Lamb of God" your fans are also not just "Misc. Lamb of God fans" 🤣 But I know you already know that. The Lamb of God fame definitely puts it in people's faces more, but it doesn't guarantee they'll buy the book and read it. Writing is hella competitive though! So much out there! I do not blame you one bit for using whatever competitive edge you have to get your stuff seen. It would be fairly depressing to spend a lot of time and energy writing a book only to have it disappear into the abyss.
Like I said, I'm VERY lucky- we have some of the best fans in the world, and I mean that. They support us, and more importantly, they ALWAYS come through when I ask them to help me raise money for charity and things of that nature. Good people!
Metal heads get a bad rap in general society (although less so these days thank God), but yeah I've found overall that they're some of the coolest and kindest people to hang out with. Hope you didn't take my comment as a criticism of you or anything! I know it can drive a person crazy with all the nitpicking people do online. Nothing but love here!
I sure am! But I'm in Ottawa now (Still dying to get back to the ocean, though. The city is not for me). I see that you are an absolute book writing machine, my dude! 🤣
Great post and super cool to auction off the Danzig photo. I may toss in a bid as this would look nice next to my #1 of #10 "Old Man's Blur" photo of yours. I'll share the pre-order with all my colleagues and encourage everyone I know to pre-order it from their local independent bookstore.
Thanks bro! And I had a lovely conversation about Pat at lunch yesterday with the author Wiley Cash, who won the Conroy Legacy Award a few years back. Pat read my book, & his widow told me he enjoyed it. I’m sure he is smiling somewhere, because he was a great supporter of ALL WRITERS.
So very cool that you became friends with Pat before he passed. I’d put The Great Santini at the top of his amazing body of work but all are fantastic, including The Death of Santini - not a heartwarming memoir. In my opinion, Conroy is in an elite class of Southern writers including Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, James Dickey, and - dare I say - Harper Lee ? Fuck it, I just did. Thanks for mentioning Wiley Cash! I now have another rabbit hole of books to dive into!
Ah ok. Thought you met him. Still a very cool connection for you. His legacy lives on through your writing! Beaufort SC…it’s not jet noise you hear, it’s the sound of freedom! Alright enough of that shit.
No, I never got to meet Pat! I sent him my 1st book & he sent me a personalized copy of Prince of Tides back (one of my prized posessions)- I had an invite to go down to Beaufort SC to meet him, but I didn’t want to bother him. That is a big regret of mine, because he got sick & died shortly after. But I know he read my book & enjoyed it, & I am going to do some stuff with the Pat Conroy Center sometime next year!
Happy for you! As a professor and fellow writer myself, whenever I get something published I too have that moment of “Wait, this is really happening? I wrote this? I’m an author?” To see the fruits of your labor come together like that is always amazing (and surreal) to see.
Super hyped for the book! Definitely going to preorder this and (nicely) bug my local independent bookstore about carrying it too!
#1 CONGRATULATIONS! You are clearly very excited and you ought to be!
1.
b) I pre-ordered your book and I'm very excited to read it. It is exactly the kind of stuff I like to read about. Soul food, I would call it. Thanks for writing good stuff!
A) That dish pit floor looks so familiar. Does every restaurant just have the exact same red tile flooring or something? 🤣 God I hated dishwashing. Never again if I can help it. I bet you're glad you're writing books instead of doing that now!
3# My heart goes out to the Southern US. Heartbreaking and scary stuff going on right now! Really can't catch a break lately with the natural disasters!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! The restaurant was called Patina, and it's closed now. And yes, most dish pits have the same floor. I was usually a cook, but I had drunkenly broken my arm on tour and only hand the manual dexterity to wash dishes at that time. I was touring and signing autographs and all that by then, but it didn't pay the bills. A man's gotta eat! I hope we catch a break in the weather soon...
I totally forgot that I was gonna say that in the same way that you are not just "Randy from Lamb of God" your fans are also not just "Misc. Lamb of God fans" 🤣 But I know you already know that. The Lamb of God fame definitely puts it in people's faces more, but it doesn't guarantee they'll buy the book and read it. Writing is hella competitive though! So much out there! I do not blame you one bit for using whatever competitive edge you have to get your stuff seen. It would be fairly depressing to spend a lot of time and energy writing a book only to have it disappear into the abyss.
Like I said, I'm VERY lucky- we have some of the best fans in the world, and I mean that. They support us, and more importantly, they ALWAYS come through when I ask them to help me raise money for charity and things of that nature. Good people!
Metal heads get a bad rap in general society (although less so these days thank God), but yeah I've found overall that they're some of the coolest and kindest people to hang out with. Hope you didn't take my comment as a criticism of you or anything! I know it can drive a person crazy with all the nitpicking people do online. Nothing but love here!
Nah, not all- I understood what ya meant.
I see you are from PEI, Carolyn! Very cool. I am original from Chicago but split my time between Brandon, MB (where I work) and Paris, ON.
I sure am! But I'm in Ottawa now (Still dying to get back to the ocean, though. The city is not for me). I see that you are an absolute book writing machine, my dude! 🤣
Great post and super cool to auction off the Danzig photo. I may toss in a bid as this would look nice next to my #1 of #10 "Old Man's Blur" photo of yours. I'll share the pre-order with all my colleagues and encourage everyone I know to pre-order it from their local independent bookstore.
Thank you so much! And I LOVE "Old Man's Blur"- I need to make a print of that myself. Thanks for spreading the word!
Congrats Randy! Ordered. Pat Conroy is smiling -and probably cackling a bit- wherever he is.
Thanks bro! And I had a lovely conversation about Pat at lunch yesterday with the author Wiley Cash, who won the Conroy Legacy Award a few years back. Pat read my book, & his widow told me he enjoyed it. I’m sure he is smiling somewhere, because he was a great supporter of ALL WRITERS.
Yessir, the Marine Corps at its finest!
So very cool that you became friends with Pat before he passed. I’d put The Great Santini at the top of his amazing body of work but all are fantastic, including The Death of Santini - not a heartwarming memoir. In my opinion, Conroy is in an elite class of Southern writers including Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, James Dickey, and - dare I say - Harper Lee ? Fuck it, I just did. Thanks for mentioning Wiley Cash! I now have another rabbit hole of books to dive into!
And Wiley is GREAT.
Ah ok. Thought you met him. Still a very cool connection for you. His legacy lives on through your writing! Beaufort SC…it’s not jet noise you hear, it’s the sound of freedom! Alright enough of that shit.
You know the story behind that sound of freedom quote, I hope! It’s a good one.
No, I never got to meet Pat! I sent him my 1st book & he sent me a personalized copy of Prince of Tides back (one of my prized posessions)- I had an invite to go down to Beaufort SC to meet him, but I didn’t want to bother him. That is a big regret of mine, because he got sick & died shortly after. But I know he read my book & enjoyed it, & I am going to do some stuff with the Pat Conroy Center sometime next year!
Happy for you! As a professor and fellow writer myself, whenever I get something published I too have that moment of “Wait, this is really happening? I wrote this? I’m an author?” To see the fruits of your labor come together like that is always amazing (and surreal) to see.
Super hyped for the book! Definitely going to preorder this and (nicely) bug my local independent bookstore about carrying it too!
Yes- it's still WILD to me when anything I write gets published by someone else! Such a col feeling. Thanks for the support, Kelly!
#1 CONGRATULATIONS! You are clearly very excited and you ought to be!
1.
b) I pre-ordered your book and I'm very excited to read it. It is exactly the kind of stuff I like to read about. Soul food, I would call it. Thanks for writing good stuff!
A) That dish pit floor looks so familiar. Does every restaurant just have the exact same red tile flooring or something? 🤣 God I hated dishwashing. Never again if I can help it. I bet you're glad you're writing books instead of doing that now!
3# My heart goes out to the Southern US. Heartbreaking and scary stuff going on right now! Really can't catch a break lately with the natural disasters!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! The restaurant was called Patina, and it's closed now. And yes, most dish pits have the same floor. I was usually a cook, but I had drunkenly broken my arm on tour and only hand the manual dexterity to wash dishes at that time. I was touring and signing autographs and all that by then, but it didn't pay the bills. A man's gotta eat! I hope we catch a break in the weather soon...