If I ever . . .

Hear me out.

If I ever finish my book. If I ever sell millions of copies and become moderately famous. If I then get asked to speak before a crowd of adoring fans and readers and need to come up with a funny entertaining speech . . . I want to be just like Fredrik Backman.

Backman is the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Us Against You, Anxious People, and The Winners. He also has a new book, My Friends, that came out last week. His books are published in more than forty countries and in more than twenty-five languages.

Every line of his speech from spring of last year drips with sarcasm and humor. “I don’t want to brag, but I’m very good at procrastination. I’m going to have a writer’s block, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’m so good at procrastination that the only reason I’m here tonight is because I’m supposed to be finishing a book right now.”

Yes, I love it.

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49 thoughts on “If I ever . . .”

      1. my two favorites of all of them, (and some of his characters overlap) are: ‘anxious people’ and ‘my grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry.’ his characters are always a bit quirky and may be hard to understand at first but are funny and have reasons for acting the way they do, just like ove did, and the books always all tie together in the end in unexpected ways and it suddenly all makes sense in some sweet way. I attended an author’s online book tour appearance he did and he was so honest and funny by accident. he’s full of anxiety and self doubt and on the spectrum and openly talks about it all. says his wife is the only reason he is able to promote his books, keeps him going and he takes breaks as needed. wonderful man.

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      2. What a great summary. “… his characters are always a bit quirky and may be hard to understand at first but are funny and have reasons for acting the way they do . . .” I think that’s what I found most appealing about Ove. I relate strongly to how he describes the anxiety. Love that honesty and humbleness. I’ll definitely start with those two. Thanks so much for the heads-up. I’m trying to get back into reading more . . . they sound like the perfect solution.

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  5. And how interesting that Tom Hanks seemed to have been playing him in the film “A Man Called Otto”, the adaption of his book: grumpy, acerbic and ultimately caring…

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    1. Yes, I think that’s the hilarious part too. Hanks nailed his demeanor. I think that’s so interesting because critics often say Hanks just “plays himself” in his movies. Maybe he’s putting more work into it than it really appears. Ha. ha. 🤣😎😎😎😎

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      1. I have met him several times – have a pic with him when I named him E!’s Celebrity Of The Year once. Charming, self-deprecating, and really in tune with the business, openly discusses the dry spells in his career and how you have to never get too full of yourself so you don’t take the down times too hard…a great person

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  15. I’m not familiar with his work so will have to look up more about him! And your book will get published and you’ll have those sweet speaking gigs!

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