Pete Hautman

When did authors go from being faceless loners to indefatigable self-promoting public figures with state-of-the-art websites, publicists, booking agents, multi-media presentations, blogs, billboards, and (coming soon, no doubt) skywriting? Maybe it all started with Mark Twain, but Pete thinks things have gotten a lot more intense in recent years, and this may well be the source of his identity crisis. Anyway, I’m trying to keep up.

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Wait….December? Huh?

Didn’t I just go for a long bike ride yesterday?

Yes, in fact, I did. In Minneapolis, this November was a great month for biking and inline skating and leaf-raking anything else you might want to do outside. Except skiing. No snow, and half the days with temperatures fifty degrees or higher. For Minnesota, this is extraordinary, and very welcome after a miserably wet and cold October.

Tomorrow, with cold and snow in the forecast, all this will change. Sigh.

It’s been a good month for writing, too. I’ve completed the first draft of a new novel, revised a second novel, and I’m done with my public appearances for the year. Reviews of How to Steal a Car continue to be mixed (1/2 “It’s great,” 1/4 “Meh,” 1/4 “Eeeek! Think what you are doing to the children, you bad, bad man!”)

My How To Steal A Car Video Contest is going full swing—which is to say, I’m still waiting for entries. Deadline isn’t until March 15th, so you still have plenty of time to cobble something together.

BTW, I am on Facebook now, and I’ll friend anybody with or without a pulse (literally—two of my Facebook friends are no longer among the living), so please feel free to “friend” me!

—December 1, 2009

Pete Hautman's Website