The Details team met me at a trendy, white-vinyl-upholstered East Village bar they’d leased out for the day.  Except for the lighting guy, a droll ponytailed German who looked to be about my age, they were all disconcertingly young, mid-twenties at most.  I got the feeling they were assistants and interns getting their shot at a shoot of their own.  I’d been carefully growing out my hair, hoping to counteract the staidness of my hardcover photo, in which I’d hoped to look unpretentious but just looked angry and square.  But comparing my actual face to the one on that same picture from the press kit, the hair stylist shook her head and set about re-trimming my hair.  They then dressed me, for no reason I could fathom, in 80’s garb—a dark suit jacket and a striped polo shirt with the collar flipped. Alex Shakar reflects back on selling his first novel in 2001: an exciting year of personal hype and loss. This post is part of our “Best of 2011” series, which highlights exceptional original pieces that have been published on The Millions this year.
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The Details team met me at a trendy, white-vinyl-upholstered East Village bar they’d leased out for the day.  Except for the lighting guy, a droll ponytailed German who looked to be about my age, they were all disconcertingly young, mid-twenties at most.  I got the feeling they were assistants and interns getting their shot at a shoot of their own.  I’d been carefully growing out my hair, hoping to counteract the staidness of my hardcover photo, in which I’d hoped to look unpretentious but just looked angry and square.  But comparing my actual face to the one on that same picture from the press kit, the hair stylist shook her head and set about re-trimming my hair.  They then dressed me, for no reason I could fathom, in 80’s garb—a dark suit jacket and a striped polo shirt with the collar flipped.

Alex Shakar reflects back on selling his first novel in 2001: an exciting year of personal hype and loss.

This post is part of our “Best of 2011” series, which highlights exceptional original pieces that have been published on The Millions this year.

Source: themillions.com