About halfway through a little book I like (Click here for more on this book: THE POCKET MUSE), I found the story about the bottle of wine.
How they'd saved a really great bottle of wine for something worth celebrating. And it ends with the advice, pretty much Don't Save the Wine-
Celebrate everything immediately.
Celebrate a rejection that includes a personal note.
Celebrate finishing something hard.
And when publication finally comes, celebrate everything.
The initial acceptance.
The galleys coming in.
The editor calling to tell you the publication date.
The day you get the final copies.
Everything.
For me, this has been a year of celebration.
I love what fellow debut author Caroline Starr Rose says she's learned in her first year of publication. (She even created a poster on the topic, free for the asking! CLICK HERE TO GO THERE.)
I'm pondering GLORY BE's first year, in anticipation of traveling to Houston's TWEEN READS Festival where I'll be on a panel along with these other debutantes...
Panel 5: Dare to Debut
Lynne Kelly
W.H. Beck
Deron Hicks
Augusta Scattergood
(Can a guy be a debutante?)
Any other debut authors out there with sage advice? Are you celebrating even the small successes? Thoughts on your own first book's publication? Or anticipation of it?
What do you think kids- "tweens"- would like to know about our first books?
Comment away!
6 comments:
Great question, Augusta. What do most tweens ask you? I bet they're interested in how long it took you to write your book, if it is real, and how much money you are making!
Thank you for including me here! I love the idea of celebrating and living in the now. A woman in our local SCBWI branch finished her first draft ever and brought cookies to our Schmooze to celebrate.
PLEASE share that page 97 advice about titles!
Augusta,
Thanks for this reminder that there is so much in life to celebrate, especially in the writing world. I love that you included rejections with personal notes. Today I am celebrating that an acquisition committee is considering my first book. And yes, I will celebrate that I made it that far, even if the final answer is "not quite right for our list"!
Ha, Carol. So far I haven't gotten the Money question, though certainly a few hints about it. But definitely how long it took me to get the book published. When I tell them I started working on Glory Be before most of them were born, that's a real show stopper!
Thanks, Caroline for reminding me about titles. A topic I have pulled much hair over. As soon as I get the little Pocket Muse book unearthed, I will share. (Right now we are painting my office and it's a mess!
Yay, Linda! That's certainly something to celebrate.
I am documenting the whole process on my blog and pretty much celebrating every step. One of the biggies for me was cover art. Seeing that made it feel like a real book. Right now I'm celebrating that my book can be pre-ordered on B&N and Amazon! I told you I'm celebrating it all.
Keep it up, Shannon! And when you get that first box of books, wow! Wait to see how that feels. We are so lucky and we must celebrate while pinching ourselves, right?
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