Friday, November 11, 2011

Serendipity

I am wearing two hats right now. On one hand I am working hard to finish my next manuscript which is due December 1, and at the same time, since I had two books released last week, I'm making the rounds of local bookstores to sign stock.

It's always an adventure. Sometimes more than others. I am lucky someone in my family comes along. More than comes along, they do the driving, the routing, abd figure in coffee and ice cream stops. It is surprising how tiring going to four bookstores in a day can be.

On Tuesday, we went to the Barnes & Nobles in and around the western part of L.A. It was exciting to see Behind the Seams on an endcap at the Marina del Rey store. The Santa Monia store had You Better Knot Die displayed on the tower. When we left that store, we decided to get a little food before moving on and picked a place across the way. It turned out they were filming a TV show in the restaurant. We figured why not and signed a release and had our picture taken and sat down at the sushi bar. They had been pretty vague about what the TV show was and just said there would be some singing and dancing.

I was thrilled because the book I'm manuscript I'm rushing to finish has a TV shoot in it. So, I was checking out the crew and their equipment. The restaurant is supposed to look like a couryard somewhere in Southeast Asia. So there is a center square and what looks like a veranda running around three sides. The veranda portion had a few booths filled with people. The center square had a number of table and they were all filled. If we turned around at the sushi bar, we had a view of the whole place.

Anything with TV seems to take forever. I'd long since finished my vegetable roll when a guy I assume was the director said something about it being a hot set. I turned around to see what was going to happen. A woman had a microphone on a tray and put it on the table right in front of us that had a couple sitting at it. The man picked it up and started to sing. Someone wisked their table away as all the people at the other tables got up and started singing and dancing in a what could only be described as an elaborate productrion number. Even the sushi chef turned out to be a performer. It seemed like the only people not singing and dancing were us.

The woman who'd been sitting with the man who became the lead singer, was helped up on a table as the production number continued. Finally the guy singer took out a ring box and proposed.

The music stopped and a man I suppose was the host of the show joined the happy couple. Of course, she said yes. They were joined by a singing and a dancing coach who'd prepared the guy for the production number. Then we found out what was going on. The guy was a comedian and had told his girlfriend someone was making a documentary about him, but it was all a set up for the production number proposal.

The one good thing was that since it was a set up, they could only shoot it once.

I don't know what the show is called. We just remember it was something the musical. Anyway, we had fun.

And then we went on our way to the next B & N.

And I had some happy news. You Better Knot Die was #7 on the Barnes & Noble mass market mystery bestseller list and Behind the Seams was #21 on the Barnes & Noble hardcover mystery bestseller list.

12 comments:

Planner said...

Was the proposal in the TV shoot a real proposal? People seem to be going to great lengths to propose in creative ways these days.

Many congratulations for having two books on the bestseller list simultaneously!

JanG said...

That sounds like so much fun! I saw your book on the end cap at the Marina but left it there until you had some copies signed. That happened when I hit the B and N in Santa Monica after buying veggies at the farmers' market. It's always exciting to see just about anything -- books, jewelry, hand-made items -- by people you know. There's a lot more work and sweat than most people realize when working creatively. This new book looks like another winner, especially seeings its spot on the best-seller list. Yay!

Writer Artist said...

How exciting!!! That has to be a huge thrill for you to see your books doing so wonderfully. Real validation that they are being read and enjoyed. congratulations!

Linda O. Johnston said...

So much going on, Betty--and all of it good! Congrats. That TV proposal sounds fun whether or not it was real.

Monica Ferris said...

What fun to find yourself in the middle of a video production! I hope it was a real proposal and that she's never sorry she said yes.

Betty Hechtman said...

I'm pretty sure the proposal was real because they only did one take of the whole production number, but did the after part when they singing and dancing coaches, along with the host of the show interviewed the couple more than once.

Betty Hechtman said...

Thank you, Jan. It is cool seeing things made or written by people you know. I have the earrings you made and think about you every time I wear them.

Betty Hechtman said...

WriterArtist, I feel like pinching myself to make sure this is all real and not a daydream.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, it was a fun day. We stopped at the B & N at the Grove, which is where all the celebrities do their booksignings. While I was waiting for them to bring my books to sign, I got an earful about the upcoming Kardasian sisters booksigning. They wrote a book?

Betty Hechtman said...

Monica, I am pretty sure it was real. In any case, we had fun.

Katreader said...

What fun. I actually saw You Better Knot Die at my grocery store in WNY this afternoon!

Betty Hechtman said...

Katreader,thanks for telling me about seeing my book in the grocerty store. It's the first time I've heard about it being sold somewhere besides a bookstore.