Yes!!
Around 10 this morning, UPS arrived with a shipment of 366 copies of Dancing Barefoot from my printer! I nearly cried when I opened the first box, and saw “By Wil Wheaton” right on the cover.
My wife took pictures while I signed the UPS thingy, which I’m debating putting up, because I had major bed head. 🙂
I am just totally overjoyed. I feel like . . . well, like a *real* writer. When Anne and I opened the first box, and I held those books in my hands, I felt light-headed and tingly all over.
“I am so proud of you,” she said, “you’ve worked so hard on this, and here it is!”
We started packing orders right away — but not until I gave her the promised first copy.
Packing was really fun. Here we are, with this really cool, professional website, and this big old business plan, and filing cabinets and accounting books, and pre-inked stamps and all that crap . . . sitting on the floor of our living room, in our PJs, filling orders. It was awesome.
We completed 100 before I had to leave to meet with some producers who are putting together a pilot that seems REALLY cool. The meeting went very well, and I’m excited as hell to work with them. I hope it all works out.
Here’s the crazy thing: the producers, who are very professional and CLEARLY know what they’re doing, contacted me because of my website! How awesome is that? They actually liked it that I am so honest and opinionated on this little chunk of 1’s and 0’s, and that fits right into the show they’re doing. I guess we’ll talk more about the pilot when I get back from Hawaii.
One last thing. I gave a copy to Ryan before I sat down to write this entry and he said, “Really? I get to have one?! COOL! I’m going to read it right now!”
He’s sitting on the couch behind me, reading some of it aloud (he’s in the story “Ready or not, here I come!”)and he keeps telling me how much he likes it. I totally feel like I’m going to cry because I’m so happy.
And now I am off to the post office to officially send out my first 100 orders, to the first 100 people who bought my very first book.
Yay!!

I’m doing some radio interviews tomorrow morning to promote Dancing Barefoot and Monolith Press. Here’s the lineup. All times are Pacific:

1. 6:10 WZZR/West Palm Beach with Josh & Lexxus
2. 6:20 WDCG/Raleigh with Bob & Madison
3. 6:30 WNCI/Columbus with Dave, Shawn & Jimmy Jam
4. 6:40 WGRF/Buffalo with Larry, Rob & Chris
5. 6:50 WQSX/Boston with Ralphie, Karen & Freddy

If you listen, I promise to do my best not to suck.

I totally hit three successive critical successes today, on my quest for The Golden Passport.
Critical Success the first: My mom found a copy of my birth certificate at their house, so I didn’t need to brave the Isle of Norwalk.
Critical Success the second: Though I was hit by someone’s evil Level 8 Create Traffic on the 10 Freeway, I successfully cast Change Appointment to 12:00!
Critical Success the last: I don’t know if I had cast a Charm Person on everyone there, or if I had truly walked into a lair of wonderful, kind, benevolent Government Employees . . . but every single person there was SO NICE!!! (nod to Teen Girl Squad).
I was stunned at how helpful, polite, patient, and reassuring everyone was.
The woman who processed my application was so great, I asked her if I could drop a note to someone, letting them know how kind she was, and she said — get this — “You don’t need to do that, I’m just doing my job. I’m glad I could help you.”
Can you believe it?!
And my iBook came back from Apple three days early, so I was able to pick her up today on my way home. My iBook is named “feynman,” but I call it a her. Is that weird? Sort of, huh?
I picked up a blogging book at the book store to use as a reference when I put the final touches on my class for the cruise, and . . . I’m in it!! I had completely forgotten that I’d done the interview, but it’s right there, and very funny, too. The book is called “Blogging: Instant Strategies for blah blah blah (if you wanna see the whole title click here.) The book is by Biz Stone, and it’s not only funny . . . it’s USEFUL too!
Oh, and one other really nifty thing that happened today: When I drove to my mom and dad’s house to get my birth certificate, I saw a sticker on one of those diamond-shaped, reflective yellow signs that means “Don’t drive here or you’ll regret it.”
It’s our Thought For Today:

“You are a beautiful person.”

When I read that, it put a huge smile on my face, filled me with joy, and I said, out loud, “Thank you, sign!”
Awesome 🙂

On the 29th, Anne and I are leaving for ten days to take a Geek / Trek Cruise in Hawaii.
I’m going to give a workshop on keeping a weblog, talk about how to set it up and all that stuff. It should be fun.
I’m also going to do all the Star Trek cruise stuff that I’ve done in the past: some Trek Q&A, pose for some pictures, sign some books (!) and all that.
I’ve been getting excited about it for the past few weeks, because I like cruises, I like Hawaii, and this will be the first time I’m appearing at an event as “Author Wil Wheaton,” instead of “That Guy Who Used To Be On TV: Wil Wheaton!”
So add up that excitement with the excitement I feel about my book, and I’m on another planet right now.
Yeah, another planet where I forgot that my passport (which I lost) has expired. This is a HUGE problem, because I need to have a passport for the cruise.

I just processed my 400th pre-order for Dancing Barefoot!
Coupled with the bulk orders I’ve taken from some indie stores, that brings the pre-sales of my first book to over 600 in less than two weeks.
And here’s exciting news to all of you international reders: Monolith Press is now shipping to the entire world. Take a look at the order page for details.
And guess what?
Steve Jackson liked my book!!

May 18, 2003: Dancing Barefoot

I just finished reading a book. I hadn’t intended to read the whole thing tonight . . . actually, I just wanted to make sure the PDF was good, and see how long it was, so I could decide where “Read Wil’s Book” would go on The List. But when I opened the PDF . . . well, why not read a bit?

So I read a few pages, and it was a good story. Sad, but good. It was real. And I knew how he felt, not because I’ve had that experience . . . no doubt I will someday, but I haven’t yet . . . but because this guy is a good storyteller.

So I read the next one. And the next one (which is about when he was 15, and has the Car Wars Deluxe Edition in it). And the next. And then I was in the last story, which is the long one about a SF convention. And there was no way I was going to quit reading at that point.

And then I was done. And you know something? When I started reading, I was pretty used up. It had been a long day, and not a good one. But when I finished, I felt better. (OK, I’m a geek, I’ll say it: I got some hit points back.) Because this is a real guy, with a real life, and he tells good stories.

If you read wilwheaton.net, you know what I’m talking about. For the rest of you: Wil Wheaton . . . who long ago, as a kid, played a kid named Wesley on TV . . . is still acting, but he’s also writing. A lot of people read his blog at wilwheaton.net. He’s also written two books: the autobiographical Just A Geek, which will be out soon, and Dancing Barefoot, which is the one that made my day. It’s out now. You can get it from his publishing site, Monolith Press. This is me saying you should read it. There are a lot of bad books out there. This is a good one.

— Steve Jackson

Holy shit.
Steve freakin’ Jackson, man. A childhood hero, who has SIGNIFICANTLY contributed to my life, and my geekdom.
This is just beyond awesome. I have to stop tearing up when I read my reviews to my wife. It’s hurting my image as a bad-ass.
In an e-mail to me, he also said:

Thanks for sending me the book. I think a lot of people will like this. You done good, man.

Does it get any better than this? If it does, I can’t wait to find out how. 🙂