Does the term 'Number Thirty-Four Extended' mean anything to you?

That's the question that my hard-working Forge publicist Patty Garcia asked me the other day. She had just seen the upcoming New York Times Best Seller List, and The Lost Constitution had made it onto the extended list at #34.

And to answer her question, yes, I know what it means. And it really means a lot. It means that people out there are buying my latest novel in good numbers. And that's one of the reasons that a writer writes - to reach an audience. We set out to divert, to educate, to enrich our readers. We set out to create, as the novelist John Gardener once wrote, "a fictional dream," then we invite readers into the dream.

In the course of twenty-eight years of being in print, I've only seen people reading my books in public places, like subways or beaches, a few times. The process of writing, of creating the ficitonal dream, is like a performance without an audience. And the reader's experience is likewise a private business. From my brain to the reader's, with a brief stop on the pritned page. That's how it works.

Si it's fair to say that writers don't get to hear a lot of applause. We like to hear from readers via mail or e-mail, and we like to know that one of our books is flirting with the New York Times Best Seller List. My first novel reached as high as #4 and several others have made the list, too, but no matter where a book debuts or how high it reaches, the news never gets old. It's great to win awards and enjoy the respect of your peers, but there's nothing like knowing that the people you wrote the book for are finding it and, you hope, enjoying it.

Comments

[Russell]

Just a note to say I am reading your work The Lost Constitution now and find it very enjoyable.

I live out here in Iowa - home of corn not potatoes (!!) - but have traveled to New England a few times. I was in Boston twice during the mid 1980s and saw Carl Yastrzemski play in his final season. I believe Jim Rice hit a grand slam in one game I saw - that was pretty special!

I especially like the realistic tone you give to your characters. They are not too glossed over but not crude - just the right mix to make them extremely realistic. That is refreshing and makes me want to keep reading.

Take care.

Russ Holmes
rholmes1009@gmail.com

[billmartin]

Thank you,Russ, for the kind words. I work hard to create characters who, as you point out, have a realistic tone. In essence, I'm tryng to create real human beings. They aren't always loveable, but they're always understandable and we can identify with their struggles. So thanks for writing from Iowa. I've only been in Iowa once, back in 1978, when my wife and I drove across America. I was so impressed that I used it as a location in my second novel.-- Bill Martin

[Chip M Anderson]

Mr Martin, I was just checking in to see if you'd be having a book out this summer for my regular summer list (sadly no) and discovered you've updated your site with a blog...wonderful. The Lost Constitution was such a wonderful read...as you know I read it on the beach in Block Island this past fall. I even posted on my own website what I thought was a great quote...which also summarizes your story writing approach:

“In this line of work, nothing is useless. You stand in places like this and try to hear the ghosts. Sometimes they tell you about their friends. And sometimes their friends lead you to what you’re looking for” (Peter Fallon).

I am looking forward to your next project (which I still think the plight of Captain Kidd and the supposed treasure in the Thimble Islands would make a great William Martin story). I am working on a project myself—a paper for a conference in November in RI on the Church and Poverty. Anyway…great site and have a great weekend…glad the book is doing well. Peace, Chip

[billmartin]

Great to hear from you, Chip. Glad that you've visited the site, and glad that you remember some of the good lines from my books. I remember that you liked a line in "Harvard Yard" enough to quote it on your Words'ntone web site, too. It's the one where Peter Fallon is lecturing his son about the way to approach his education, and he says, "Burn the candle at both ends. Never tell yourself there isn't time to direct a play or sing in a choral group or play rugby. Take a course in gene-splitting if you're an English major. If you major in biology, take a course in short-story writing. Study Chinese,learn statistics, Get drunk at least once." Peter's point is that it's an amazing world,and the more curiosity you have about it, the more amazing it will become. There's nothing like writing a line that resonates with readers. The line from "The Lost Constitution" that stays with people is one of the mjor echoing lines in the story: "In America, we get up in the morning and go to work and solve our problems." It becomes a mantra for many characters and echoes through the hole story. And in some way, I think, it defines what it means to be a good American.

[Jennifer]

I just finished reading "The Lost Constitution" and it took my breath away. I found it by accident as I was shopping at a drug store for a romance novel that I needed for a play I was in last week.

I wish to thank you for imparting this incredible journey. The political climate at present is ripe for a look back at our past. Having been involved in a campaign for the first time and standing for principles made this particular literary quest especially delightful and thought provoking.

I have done some traveling in the regions featured when I drove to Newport RI a few years ago. I felt like I was back there. I have not read any of your other works, but I will be very soon. There is such a feeling of longing for more pages. I haven't experienced that level of joy and inspiration since I read "Atlas Shrugged" a couple of years ago.

So thank you again from a playwright and new fan in Dubuque, Iowa.

[billmartin]

Thanks for posting such complimentary comments. I can't think of anything better than hearing that I'm taking a reader's "breath away," or that I'm leaving readers "longing for more." And I work hard to give you a sense that you are "back there" in the the past, in locations like Newport, or the White Mountains, or the other locations in New England that provided me so much inspiration in writing "The Lost Constitution."

[Barbara von dem Hagen]

I just finished "The Lost Constitution". Enjoyable! I couldn't put it down. I told my daughter it was a real page-turner. Can't wait for your next book and hope there will be many more. I call you the "A-B-C" author... Annapolis, Back Bay and Cape Cod.
So are you going to write a novel about "a fabulously illuminated manuscript...French Revolution...Mont St Michel"? Hope so!

Keep writing,
Barbara von dem Hagen

[billmartin]

Thanks for your comments. Glad that you enjoyed the book, and I hope that you have enjoyed the others, too. At some point, that adventure in France will be written, because I currently have a contract with Forge for two more Peter and Evangeline novels. But I've decided that the next one will take them to New York City for another adventure into the American past. THEN they'll go to France. Stay tuned.

[Susan Montalbano]

Mr. Martin, Thank you for sharing your gift. Each summer my reading begins with "Back Bay" and continues with whateverelse. This summer as I prepared for my vacation I purchased suntan lotion, flip flops, and was pleasantly surprised in the book section, "The Lost Constitution" was waiting patiently on the shelf. My gchildren thought I was having a stroke or heart attack I screamed "oh my god!" they hurried over and said "Oh, just Memaw's favorite author." And now with vacation done I am deep into Peter and Evangeline's pursuit! p.s. I have first editions of your books and the family joke is 'we will only know who is Mom's favorite when we see who she leaves her Bible and William Martin's to." true story!

[billmartin]

You read "Back Bay" every year? Wow. I'm flattered. I know a man who reads my "Cape Cod" once a year, too. I think it means I'm doing something right, at least for you. And you're telling your grandchildren about my books? Great. Pass the reading habit - and my books - to another generation. I hope that you enjoy "The Lost Constitution" as much as you did "Back Bay." Both (along with "Harvard Yard") feature treasure-hunter Peter Fallon and his girlfriend, Evangline. And watch this space for the pub date of the next Peter and Evangeline adventure sometime in 2009. That way, you won't be screaming the first time you see it in the book store. I'd hate to be responsible for frightening your grandchildren again. But on second thought, maybe you should scream. I mean... talk about good word of mouth. Why is that lady screaming? Why... it's another William Martin novel! I'd like that.

[Bill Melchin]

Dear Mr. Martin, First may I say that I am thoroughly enjoying Harvard Yard and look foward to reading the Lost Constitution. I also have been to D.C. recently with my wife and two sons and I know exactly what you mean in youy blog History Lives. I work in Boston and am lucky enough to be able to see (notice) some of the historical places the city has to offer. Your books have been a great source of inspiration to notice such places. Also for any of your fans who have finished all your books but would like to read others of the same genre,(one can never read too much)Jim Lehrer wrote a great book with Antietam as the back drop called No Certain Rest. Thank You Bill Melchin

[billmartin]

I'm proud to know that I inspire readers to visit some of the places that I've written about. Setting has always been enormously important to me, not only as the background for my characters, but as an expression of who they are. We are products of our environments and of our experiences, and by exploring the environments that I hope to write about, I often get ideas for the drama itself. And you're right, Bill, there's no such thing as reading too much.

[PaulAnderson]

Mr.Martin, The Lost Constitution, WOW, I must have picked this book up in the book isle of my local Grocery store and read the back cover a dozen times, I'm very glad I finally decided to buy and read it,I'm 450 pages into it, I love the characters and their personalities & the past and future,the details, I live in MN never been to the east coast always wanted to. This book makes me want to search my family's history.thanks for the great writing, can't wait to read more of you're adventures.

[Susan Montalbano]

Will Pike's recipe "We are Americans, we get up in the morning, we go to work, and we solve our problems." I finished my read of "The Lost Constitution" toward the end of August, my schedule was beginning to fill with school starting and the activities one makes for changing of the seasons. I planned to post to you that I found "TLC" visual, a page turner, fulfilling, but I found myself instead preparing for a hurricane. "Ike" was bearing down on me and my family and time was growing short no time for frivolous conversation or inaction. Now I had to move with haste and purpose.
Today is September 25, 2008 and my electricty has been restored. Hurricane Ike made landfall 9/13/08 and my life has forever changed. To say "I have survived" is incorrect, my life and my loved ones are alive, but i cannot use a past tense because we continue to face our challenges to return to the life we had prior to 9/13 knowing we will never be the same. During my days Post Ike, as I struggled to find ice, food, a sane thought, your phrase, "We are Americans, we get up in the morning, we go to work, and we solve our problems" became my mantra. Whatever the problem of the day was, I knew, I could find the solution. It's what we do. Life changing? More along the lines of Life Saving. Thank you Mr. Martin for the wonderful read, I am looking forward to "Manhattan Money" maybe it will lead me to riches.

[billmartin]

Thanks for posting again, Susan, in a difficult time. I can't imagine what you're facing, and it's my job to imagine people facing challenges and overcoming them. As a storyteller, I've always believed that writing stories about people who strive in the bright sunlight, strive to make things better,strive against long odds,is more satisfying for me and my readers, and more inspirational, than writing about people paralyzed by the frustrations of modern life, the kind of people who give up in the face of difficult circumstances. It sounds like you have the moral fiber and conviction that I just write about. So... keep getting up in the morning and going to work, and I'm sure you'll solve what seem like insurmountable problems.