| General Non-Fiction posted July 4, 2022 |
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A memoir for the contest
Just Your Average Joe
by June Sargent
A man holding a drooling baby in his arms approached the customer service desk at Bookends, the store where I worked. I thought he looked familiar somehow.
He asked how many copies of the book, "Flashback," we had sold. I thought it was an odd question, but said I would check. When the image of the book came up on the computer screen, I realized why this guy looked so familiar. He was Michael Palmer, the author of the book!
Sadly, we had sold very few, maybe two copies. He was waiting patiently, as his baby began to fuss - obviously had a cold. I wondered how I could answer his question, without disappointing him.
"Well, I can't tell you exactly how many we've sold, Mr. Palmer, but I'm happy to say there is only one copy left on the shelf!"
He beamed, as he was wiping the baby's nose with the cloth diaper draped over his shoulder. As he ran out the door to meet his wife in another part of the mall, I waved good-bye and breathed a deep sigh of relief,..
Michael Palmer was a physician who lived in Marblehead, a seaside town north of Boston. He enjoyed reading medical thrillers, especially ones written by Robin Cook, author of "Coma," who was also a physician in Boston and fellow graduate of Weslayan University.
Palmer thought that if Cook could write, he could. "The Sisterhood" was published in 1982, followed by "Side Effects" in 1986, and "Flashback" in 1988.
His first really big hit came out in 1991, a year after he visited my store. "Extreme Measures" was later made into a movie starring Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Gene Hackman.
Palmer never came back to check on his sales again. He didn't have to. His books have been translated into 35 languages. On October 29, 2013, Palmer unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and stroke, dying the next day in New York City.
What I personally learned from this experience was that authors are just ordinary people. They get married (he was twice divorced), have babies, live in houses with mortgages and shop at malls. And they have their insecurities about their writing.
Although Palmer never reached the level of fame that Robin Cook did, he followed his dream and became a successful author of medical thrillers. Ordinary people can catch a star - if they reach high enough.
Share Your Story contest entry
A man holding a drooling baby in his arms approached the customer service desk at Bookends, the store where I worked. I thought he looked familiar somehow.
He asked how many copies of the book, "Flashback," we had sold. I thought it was an odd question, but said I would check. When the image of the book came up on the computer screen, I realized why this guy looked so familiar. He was Michael Palmer, the author of the book!
He asked how many copies of the book, "Flashback," we had sold. I thought it was an odd question, but said I would check. When the image of the book came up on the computer screen, I realized why this guy looked so familiar. He was Michael Palmer, the author of the book!
Sadly, we had sold very few, maybe two copies. He was waiting patiently, as his baby began to fuss - obviously had a cold. I wondered how I could answer his question, without disappointing him.
"Well, I can't tell you exactly how many we've sold, Mr. Palmer, but I'm happy to say there is only one copy left on the shelf!"
He beamed, as he was wiping the baby's nose with the cloth diaper draped over his shoulder. As he ran out the door to meet his wife in another part of the mall, I waved good-bye and breathed a deep sigh of relief,..
Michael Palmer was a physician who lived in Marblehead, a seaside town north of Boston. He enjoyed reading medical thrillers, especially ones written by Robin Cook, author of "Coma," who was also a physician in Boston and fellow graduate of Weslayan University.
Palmer thought that if Cook could write, he could. "The Sisterhood" was published in 1982, followed by "Side Effects" in 1986, and "Flashback" in 1988.
His first really big hit came out in 1991, a year after he visited my store. "Extreme Measures" was later made into a movie starring Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Gene Hackman.
Palmer never came back to check on his sales again. He didn't have to. His books have been translated into 35 languages. On October 29, 2013, Palmer unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and stroke, dying the next day in New York City.
What I personally learned from this experience was that authors are just ordinary people. They get married (he was twice divorced), have babies, live in houses with mortgages and shop at malls. And they have their insecurities about their writing.
Although Palmer never reached the level of fame that Robin Cook did, he followed his dream and became a successful author of medical thrillers. Ordinary people can catch a star - if they reach high enough.
Palmer never came back to check on his sales again. He didn't have to. His books have been translated into 35 languages. On October 29, 2013, Palmer unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and stroke, dying the next day in New York City.
What I personally learned from this experience was that authors are just ordinary people. They get married (he was twice divorced), have babies, live in houses with mortgages and shop at malls. And they have their insecurities about their writing.
Although Palmer never reached the level of fame that Robin Cook did, he followed his dream and became a successful author of medical thrillers. Ordinary people can catch a star - if they reach high enough.
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