Like cold sores, lost voices, and zits, illness seems to spring up at all the worst times.  As Liz Lemon would say, ‘Blurgh!" (I’m a huge 30 Rock fan).  Because I’m still a little bit of a Supergirl, I considered working despite being sick… but I don’t think that would help me get better any faster, and I have a full week of travel next week (I’m speaking at Rice University on Tuesday, and I’m teaching at Columbia University’s Columbia Scholastic Press Association Conference on Thursday).

So, I’m off to binge on Seinfeld DVDs and honey-lemon tea, in the hopes of getting better soon and being able to write about something far more substantial for tomorrow.

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The good news is that, of the half-dozen or so "Supergirls Speak Out" events I’ve done so far, only one was a borderline-flop.  The other five were great events where lots of people came, I sold lots of books, and it was totally worth the makeup!  But I couldn’t get over just how much my poorly-attended event felt like being on a bad date!  After an "intimate" reading at a bookstore, I stopped at a cafe and got some pie, laid in bed, and watched Beerfest in the hopes of salvaging my night.

(Although… bad dates sometimes require three slices of pie to remedy.)

Luckily, it’s not just me.  The majority of the first-time authors I know have drawn skimpy crowds to events, and it’s something that happens that we all accept.  But the lack of attendance at book readings and signings has me worried about Generation Y, and whether we’re less literary of a generation than our predecessors. After all, celebrities draw jostling crowds to Virgin Megastores any day of the week… but I don’t think that most Gen Y-ers could point out a bestselling author in a crowd.  Admittedly, I’m talking about two very different kinds of celebrity here, but I’m starting to wonder whether free literary events are uninteresting or irrelevant to the mainstream of Gen Y, and it worries me!

What do you think?

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My name is Liz Funk and I’m the author of the new book "Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls," published on March 3rd by Simon and Schuster.  I’ll be one of the  Lit Klatsch bloggers this week at Jewcy, and I’m really excited to write about overachieving girls, the pressure on young women to be perfect, feminism, privilege, college, 20-somethings at work, recent news, and whatever else I feel like that day (my excessive and chronic over-consumption of coffee, diet Coke, and Red Bull has cost me my focused thinking, thus, expect the unexpected).

Religion has played a surprisingly large role in my process of having a book published and promoting my book.  In April 2007, on my way to a meeting with a publisher interested in my book, and stuck in traffic, I prayed that I wouldn’t be late; I wasn’t late.  I prayed that a publisher would buy my proposal; S&S’s Touchstone imprint did.  I appeared on NBC’s Today Show last month, and the congregation at my church prayed for me the Sunday before.  As I sat in the tall white chairs in Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza before the cameras starting rolling, I folded my hands and discreetly talked to God for a minute, asking him to get behind me and help me not screw up the high point of my career thus far.  Halfway into my prayer, the other guest on the segment commented that it would be been nicer if we had been seated on the Today Show couch for our interview, and I agreed, "Yeah, that would have been better, my feet don’t even touch the bar on these high chairs."  Then Meredith Viera came over and started talking with us, and I forgot all about my prayer.  To my elation, God did in fact get behind me, because I’ve been told I did well in the interview.

Now, for the first installment of a few days of shameless self-promotion, I’ll be doing a book signing at the Wall Street Borders Bookstore tomorrow (3/10) in the Financial District in Manhattan, on Broadway between Pine Street and Wall Street from 1pm to 2:30ish. Feel free to stop by during your lunch hour!

Liz Funk, author of Supergirls Speak Out!, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and she’ll be here all week. Stay tuned.

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