J.R. Moehringer is not easy to find at home these days.

The Denver-based correspondent for the Los Angeles Times has been enjoying a whirlwind of publicity since The Tender Bar was released. The 40-year-old author has begun a 12-city book tour, including a stop next week at the Tattered Cover.

We caught up with Moehringer for a quick Q & A:

Question: What was the biggest challenge writing the book?

Answer: Structure. For me it's always been about structure. The question was, how do you organize all the different stories and many characters into one organic, symmetrical whole? Also, I felt a great burden to be sensitive to everyone described in the book, to consider how each might react to his or her portrait, while not being paralyzed or intimidated by sensitivity.

Q: Were you influenced by any other memoirs? Which memoirs do you admire?

A: I read scores of memoirs before writing and was influenced in one way or another by most of them. A couple of obscure ones really stayed with me: Michael J. Arlen's wonderful Exiles and Loren Eiseley's lyrical All the Strange Hours. I most admire the memoirs of Tobias Wolff, Frederick Exley and Russell Baker. Hard to think of three guys better at the young-man-coming-of-age story.

Q: How do you respond to those who wonder how you can re-create dialogue, etc., from years ago?

A: It's a very legitimate concern. It's something that bothered me when I read certain memoirs. In my book, however, I was lucky: I wrote down the stuff that was said while it was being said in real time, right there at the bar.

As I describe in the book, I was always taking notes for the novel that was never to be, and those notes were my raw material while writing. Also, I did a lot of reporting in the last three years. I interviewed my mother and the guys from the bar, my cousin and my schoolmates, and ultimately almost everyone in this book. I asked them what they remembered of pivotal conversations and exchanges. Most of them remembered quite a lot.

I hope readers will know and appreciate how much effort went into the "reconstructed" dialogue in my memoir. It's not reconstructed - it's recorded, reported or remembered.

Q: What was your worst fear before The Tender Bar came out?

A: That people wouldn't like it.

Q: What's your worst fear now, as you get ready to promote the book?

A: That people won't like it or me.

Q: What are you hearing from friends and family mentioned in the book?

A: Most are still reading; a couple have weighed in and said nice things. But the "big" reactions are still pending. Bob the Cop. Cager. Colt. No word yet.

Q: Whose praise would mean the most to you, regarding this book, and why?

A: The praise from the writers on my book jacket (James Salter, Richard Russo and David Halberstam) means the world to me.

Q: Update us on some of the characters: Where is Uncle Charlie now? Your mother?

A: I just don't know where Uncle Charlie is. And my mother is in Arizona watching all of this unfold with a sense of wonder.

Q: You were recently profiled by The New York Times, the newspaper that turned down the chance to hire you full-time after an apprenticeship years ago. What was that like?

A: One of the most bizarre experiences in my life. Throughout the course of the interview I had to look at my reflection in my knife and spoon to make sure it was really me.

Q: What's next?

A: I'm writing a story for my newspaper (the Los Angeles Times) about a homeless softball player who's supposed to be the next Natural.

If you go

• What: Moehringer will read from and sign The Tender Bar.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

• Where: Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek, 2955 E. First Ave.

• Cost: Free

• Information: 303-322-7727

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