all dressed up with nowhere to go

The audiobook I performed last week is called Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. I don't know how many of you reading this today were around in the old days of WWdN (lots, I hope!), but if you were, you may remember when I linked to Ernie's spoken world on Fark. Ernie told me in an e-mail that he was so overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response, it gave him the courage to start the outline that would eventually become Ready Player One.

So that's kind of awesome.

Ernie wrote on his blog about the process of choosing me to perform the book, which says so many nice things about me, I can't quote it without feeling weird … but I'll happily link to it, in the hopes that at least some of you will explore the rest of his website, because it's full of really great stuff. And, hey, Hipsters? You want to familiarize yourself with Ernie's going to blow up when this book comes out in August, so you can tell everyone that you were into him before that happened. Also, his work is just fucking brilliant.

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I wanted to take a moment and thank the guys at UPS in Phoenix who worked so hard to find my books when they were lost during Phoenix Comicon. A bunch of drivers stayed after hours to dig though packages looking for it, and the shipping manager there worked when he wasn't on the clock to track them down. A lot of people put in a lot of effort to correct an epic failure, and I didn't find out until after the fact that they weren't in there because I was some guy with a blog, or some guy who is on TV; they were in there because I'm some guy who does a lot of work with the Child's Play charity, and one of them (who probably wants to remain anonymous) has a child who directly benefited from the things Child's Play does.

I'm sure corporate and the UPS PR department wanted this to be resolved, and I'm not going to pretend that that didn't matter, but I also know that the guys who dug through trucks in the Arizona heat on a holiday weekend were the ones who eventually got it done.

So I wanted to publicly say THANK YOU to all of them.

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One last thing before I go (I'm supposed to be on Internet-vacation until next Saturday): my brother is frakking hilarious.

28 thoughts on “all dressed up with nowhere to go”

  1. On the subject of hipsters, allow me to say that I first heard several of Ernie’s spoken word performances on internet radio over 5 years ago. He’s awesome and I was _so_ excited when I saw his name tied to an upcoming novel. I can’t wait.

  2. Walking with a dead man over my shoulder. Sorry, I just had to:) I will check out that link-Ernie was smart to choose you! On a different note, I have a small gift for you for your b-day that I hope to give to you at Comic-Con next month:) I have always had success meeting you there, and plan/hope to again! Have a nice Internet vaca!! P.S. I like your batman belt buckle!

  5. Ah…so he was the guy who wrote the BB sequel! And he used to program a TRS-80 CoCo? That makes him incredibly cool in my book. 🙂
    If he was able to guess what game I made my avatar from without cheating, he would be a serious candidate for Supreme Overlord Geek Commander. ^_^

  9. That chicken blog was hilarious. Your brother’s “writer voice” sounds a like you.:) I’ll definitely follow him more in the future. His images are beautiful.

  10. Atta Boy Wil!
    I know some people will scream when things go wrong and never say thanks when things go right.
    Thanks for not being THAT guy 😉

  12. I recently finished Ready Player One, and sent an e-mail to Ernest Cline telling him how much I loved it, and now I’m excited to hear the audiobook as well! Everyone really should check out the book, btw…

  14. you sprinkle your talk sometimes with F-spice that spoils the fun of your stories! I use that stupid F things sometimes myself, but I hate the stupid habit.
    Your brother’s blog is really nice!, beautiful pictures and funny stories, useful too (yes, chickens up close and personal! and the dog’s expression from behide the egg-apron picture – there is a whole story there)
    🙂 <3

  15. Glad your UPS issues were worked out. We run a small game shop up in the mountains of Maine, and our son has been pushing us to do a charity night for Child’s Play, we’ve got to get going on that. Loved your bro’s blog post. He is articulate, funny, and dare I say cute too. Made for a nice accompaniment to my first coffee of the day. Take care…

  17. I have an aunt locally who has chickens who should start laying in the next month or so, something tells me I’ll have all the eggs I want soon if they act anything like your brother’s chickens! *waves at Wil’s brother from next door in Idaho*
    UPS where I am seems to be very reliable. They will even drop packages addressed to my PO box to the post office for me — we don’t get mail delivery up here, everybody has a box, and if I choose the wrong address for shipping, well…helpful when I don’t know how something’s going to be shipped. I’m glad you got everything worked out with them.

  18. To each their own, but I personally wouldn’t have said Wil’s blog was particularly profane; it’s not like every other word is a swear word.
    Anyway, sometimes only a colourful metaphor will do. 🙂

  20. A Trekkie since the old days who LIKED your character AND the way you played him in spite of the writing,I was there back in the early blog days and have enjoyed watching you grow as a writer and a person. I was very sad to miss you in Phoenix again(I’m a nurse and couldn’t get coverage, again), but Amy’s stories just convince me I was right about you from the beginning.
    My friend Sara bought me “7 of 20” for my birthday and it is awesome to relive your blogs on the audio as I drive in my car between home and my patients, and while I do my 5K while training for my first triathlon.
    So since I may never get to shake your hand and tell you thank you in person for all the joy you have brought me, thought I’d slip in my own little gratitude comment here. Thank you.
    Very sincerely,
    Joanne

  21. Hey Man,
    There have been some cool speakers in the OC.
    Seth Godin – Chris Brogan – Scott Culbertson and Gary Vaynerchuk have addresed both marketing and Twitter based marketing efforts in their books.
    Did you know Gary mentions your Twitter marketing in his book?

  22. Your brother’s chicken post made me laugh! And it made me remember the days we had chickens most fondly, almost enough to give it another try, though I’m kind of having a hard time balancing yummy eggs against not slipping in chicken shit when I walk out on the porch!

  26. Dammit! I went to your brother’s site and almost freaked out thinking Nicole Eggert has passed away! (Loved her on Chas in Chrge)

  27. I can’t wait to read Ready Player One! The synopsis sounded fabulous, and I’m sure your narration is great. I order the audiobooks for my library, and I’ll definitely be buying this one.

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“The library is a safe place.”

In order to survive, I disassociated for much of my childhood, but I clearly remember the books. That's where I found comfort, companionship, inspiration and validation. It's where the imagination that powers everything I do creatively in my life today was born. And it all started in that library, with that librarian. She was one of the first people I can remember asking me, "What do you like? What's important to you? What do you want to know more about? How can I help you find it?"

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