Rachel Simon's Blog
Life, Love, Hope, and Disability
Rachel Simon
- Location
- Wilmington, Delaware, USA
- Title
- Writer and speaker
- Bio
- I'm the author of five books and a speaker on disability-related topics. My best-known book is the memoir Riding The Bus With My Sister, which is about my sister, who has an intellectual disability. It also became a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. My latest book, The House On Teacher's Lane, is a follow-up memoir which comes out on May 25, 2010. For more info, please see www.rachelsimon.com.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Finishing My Book Tour:
Atlanta, Charlotte,
Connecticut, Delaware,
Virginia
May 16, 2012 09:47PM - Menu For A Book Tour (for The
Story of Beautiful Girl) (in
Miami, mostly)
March 05, 2012 08:58AM - My Book Tour for The Story of
Beautiful Girl: Austin
February 29, 2012 10:36AM - Forty Rules For Being On Book
Tour (for The Story of
Beautiful Girl)(in Wichita,
mostly)
February 20, 2012 06:43AM - My Book Tour For The Story of
Beautiful Girl: Chicago
February 16, 2012 07:26PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Such a pleasure to
accompany you to these very
varied
exhibits. Everything
appea…”
December 18, 2010 08:56PM - “First, Peter is right -
Rejection hurts, and really,
no one
is immune from that
p…”
June 17, 2010 02:57PM
Rachel Simon's Links
MAY 16, 2012 9:47PM
Finishing My Book Tour: Atlanta, Charlotte, Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia
I have not meant to neglect my blog. For many months – since
I last posted this winter – I have thought of it every day.
But I have been traveling hither and yon, first for the remainder
of my book tour, then for myriad speaking engagements. Between Feb.
10 and…
MARCH 5, 2012 8:58AM
Menu For A Book Tour (for The Story of Beautiful Girl) (in Miami, mostly)
Here is the menu of my time in Miami, Stop #5 on my book tour for
The Story of Beautiful Girl. Starters An Assortment of Wraps After
flying from Austin (Stop #4) and landing in Miami (Stop #5), you
quickly come across two newsstands where your novel, The Story of
Beautiful…
FEBRUARY 29, 2012 10:36AM
My Book Tour for The Story of Beautiful Girl: Austin
I hadn’t been there before, but I thought I knew what there
was to know about Austin: music university state capitol warm
weather liberal atmosphere But there was much I hadn’t known,
as I discovered when I was in town on Feb. 17-19, during my book
tour for The Story of…
FEBRUARY 20, 2012 6:43AM
Forty Rules For Being On Book Tour (for The Story of Beautiful Girl)(in Wichita, mostly)
Here are forty rules I’ve learned about being
on book tour, most of which I realized while in Wichita, Book Tour
Stop #3: 1. Pack only what you need because… 2. The more you
have, the longer it takes to repack. And since you repack every
day… 3. Decide at Stop…
FEBRUARY 16, 2012 7:26PM
My Book Tour For The Story of Beautiful Girl: Chicago
I loved the Chicago leg of my book tour! My media escort, Don, gave
me the morning to myself. This gave me the opportunity to have a
full night’s sleep, something I will crave as the book tour
continues and I’ll be doing bookstore events until 9 or 10 at
night…
FEBRUARY 16, 2012 12:15AM
My Book Tour For The Story of Beautiful Girl: Airport Bookstores
The morning of Valentine’s Day, when I got to the Denver
Airport for my flight to City #2 on my tour, Chicago, I realized:
Wait! Airports are full of bookstores! Why not see if copies of the
brand-new release of the paperback is on display – and then
see if I…
FEBRUARY 14, 2012 11:43PM
My Book Tour For The Story of Beautiful Girl: Denver, Part II
Having never been on a book tour before, I wasn’t sure what
to expect. But now that Day 1 is behind me, I have a better sense
of how it works. When my publisher was setting up the tour, they
arranged for me to work with media escorts in the cities…
FEBRUARY 13, 2012 5:46PM
My Book Tour for The Story of Beautiful Girl: Denver, Part I
Today, Feb. 13, 2012, is the publication date of the paperback of
The Story of Beautiful Girl – and the day my book tour
officially begins! My first event will be tonight at the famous
Tattered Cover, at the Historic LoDo location in Denver. But
I’ve already been in Colorado for…
FEBRUARY 12, 2012 9:33PM
My Book Tour for The Story of Beautiful Girl: Boulder, CO
Actually, my book tour starts in Denver tomorrow, 2/13/12. But when
my fabulous publisher, Grand Central, told me a few months ago that
they would be sending me on a book tour for the paperback release
of The Story of Beautiful Girl, I got in touch with the wonderful
folks at…
FEBRUARY 10, 2012 11:41AM
Judy Woodruff interviews Rachel Simon for the PBS News Hour
Could there be a better way to kick off the release of the
paperback of The Story of Beautiful Girl than to get interviewed by
Judy Woodruff on the PBS News Hour? Yesterday I flew to Colorado.
I’m currently in Boulder, getting ready for a talk tonight.
After another talk on…
JANUARY 31, 2012 10:05AM
Recording The Audio Book of My Memoir, Riding The Bus With My Sister
When I found out last fall that my memoir, Riding The Bus With My
Sister, was finally going to be recorded for an audio book, I was
relieved, grateful – and nervous. Relieved
because that book came out ten, yes, ten years ago, and in all that
time, the audio rights…
DECEMBER 22, 2011 2:13PM
Holiday Greetings To All
Photo collage generated with Smilebox
DECEMBER 5, 2011 8:15PM
Announcing A Ten-City Book Tour for the Paperback of The Story of Beautiful Girl
A few months ago, I blogged about how publishers almost never send
authors on book tour anymore. I added that, although I travel a
lot, it’s for professional speaking engagements. I’ve
never been on a book tour. But in February, 2012, that will change.
I’ll be on my first book tour!…
NOVEMBER 26, 2011 8:10PM
Where Have I Been? A Photo Journey Through Fall 2011
It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving. While most people had
large family gatherings with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin
pie, I took my sister Beth to see Puss In Boots, followed by a trip
to a diner for our holiday dinner. It was a nice, peaceful, private
way to say thanks for…
AUGUST 4, 2011 7:15AM
Two Electronic Treats for Fans of The Story of Beautiful Girl
When I began doing appearances in connection with The Story of
Beautiful Girl, the American Network of Community Options and
Resources, or ANCOR, assembled an extremely helpful and
easy-to-read brochure that provides additional information about
the past, present, and future of the kind of institutio…
JULY 25, 2011 7:33AM
Home, Home On The Road: Visiting Book Clubs By Skype and Phone
Now that summer has arrived, I’m taking a break from the
relentless pace of the last few months and am living a life of
solitude, silence, and deep concentration. But with The Story of
Beautiful Girl proving so popular among book clubs, I’ve also
been visiting groups across the country �…
JULY 7, 2011 9:15AM
Jennifer Weiner Praises The Story of Beautiful Girl on The Today Show
I’m so excited! This morning, mega-authors Jennifer Weiner
and Harlan Coben appeared on The Today Show to recommend their
Books Not To Be Missed For The Summer – and Jennifer raved
about my book! Here’s what she said. “Great title,
great cover. Sad book. Two people who are ins…
JULY 1, 2011 8:01AM
I Love Book Clubs
I don’t belong to any book clubs. But I sure do love being in
them. I grew up in the pre-book club era, when people who read
books didn’t think in terms of gathering once a month in a
living room with a dozen friends, food, wine, and maybe a set…
JUNE 21, 2011 12:09PM
You Wore Costumes To Do Author Readings? Really?
Yes, I did. For the first three books of my career – the
books that preceded my first bestseller, Riding The Bus With My
Sister – I wore fun, whimsical costumes to do author readings
in bookstores. In fact, during these early years of my career, from
my first book, Little…
JUNE 16, 2011 8:10PM
What Do You Mean, You’re Not On Book Tour? Don’t You Travel All Over The Place?
For the last nine years, since Riding The Bus With My Sister came
out, people have said to me, “Boy, your book tour is lasting
a long time!” or “Don’t you get tired of being on
book tour?” For the last month, since The Story of Beautiful
Girl came out, people…
JUNE 1, 2011 7:06AM
My Silly, Salty, One-Of-A-Kind Celebration For Becoming A New York Times Bestseller
For the last two weeks, since The Story of Beautiful Girl hit the
New York Times Bestseller list, people have asked how I’d
celebrate. Would I dine at an extravagant restaurant? Throw a
party? Go on a shopping spree? I said no, I wasn’t really
planning a celebration. But in truth…
MAY 25, 2011 7:10AM
Hitting The New York Times Best Seller List: The Story of Beautiful Girl, Week 3
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to find out that
your book has gotten onto the New York Times Best Seller list,
you’ve probably imagined fireworks, or parades, or, at the
very least, a singing telegram. You probably didn’t imagine
this. It was a week ago, a Wednesday ev…
MAY 18, 2011 9:19PM
Picking Up Speed: The 2nd Week After Beautiful Girl’s Launch
The second week in the life of The Story of Beautiful Girl has been
demanding, stimulating, exhausting, full of happy developments with
the book, full of friends old and new, full of events public and
private, and overflowing with unbelievable excitement. First, the
BIG, BIG, BIG news: This evening,…
MAY 10, 2011 8:12AM
Lift Off: The First Six Days After Beautiful Girl’s Launch
So how’s it been going? How’s it been going in the six
days since Grand Central Publishing published The Story of
Beautiful Girl? That’s what people keep asking me –
though they phrase the question in one of these three ways: 1.
What’s been going on? 2. How are you feeli…
Today, May 4, 2011, my new novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl, hits
the shelves. The journey to publication has been a thrilling
adventure which I’ve chronicled in this blog for the last
year. I’m posting a photo card below to thank you for joining
me on this journey. It includes…
Lyn LeJeune
Antoinette Errante
Janelle Tapscott
Tichaona Chinyelu
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com