What I've Learned

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My debut middle-grade novel, GLORY BE, turned one year old in January. Along with toasting the year's awesomeness, I pondered what I've learned. Miraculously, somebody asked me to write about it.

Thank you, Chuck Sambuchino and Writers Digest, for giving me an opportunity to share. 

Because what good is learning something if you keep it to yourself?

CLICK HERE if you'd like to read 

SEVEN THINGS I'VE LEARNED SO FAR

Any other tips from fellow debut authors about navigating your first year? Or those of you who remember your own very first book?

What I've Learned

As my Debut Year comes to a close-- January 2013, GLORY BE will be one year old-- I'm reflecting on what I've learned so far. And how much I have to be thankful for.

Before Glory hit the shelves, I worried about its reception.
But a very wise person gave me good advice. Like it doesn't matter what reviewers say. It's the kids you are writing for. Your book will still be on library shelves and in readers' hands long after the review has yellowed on the page.

I think the most amazing thing about having a book out in the world isn't how many books you sell or when the reviewers say nice things about you.
Okay, that's pretty great, too.

But my favorite part of the year was when young readers, librarians, even somebody who hasn't read a Middle Grade novel since she finished Little Women back in her own childhood, stopped by a signing or a talk to say how much my book meant to them or their students.

This is Eliza. She came with her mom to my Children's Museum event in Jackson. Her mom told me about the difficulty her neighborhood friend was having in school. And how much my book helped Eliza understand the history of the 1960s.

I also loved hearing from a teacher I'd met at Anderson's AMAZING Literature Breakfast in Illinois. She shared that she was reading Glory Be aloud to her grandmother and some of her grandmother's friends. In the dining room of their assisted living facility.

See, stories like that make all that hard work totally worth while. And make this first year truly memorable. I am a very thankful person this season!



Also:
I'm inspired by my fellow debutantes. Caroline Starr Rose has written eloquently about what she's learned and what she hopes to remember. Click on her name to read her blog.

For a little more about the very beginning of my journey, if you missed that and if you care,
CLICK HERE 

or Here (launch party recap)

Celebrate Everything

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!

Advice from The Best

I've been thinking a lot about this past year, my book's debut. 

So of course, I love this Cynsations interview, filled with advice 

from Rita Williams-Garcia via Cynthia Leitich Smith. 

Here's a bit of it:

What advice do you have for the debut authors of 2012?

My advice is hypocritical, but it is still good. Put at least one third of your energy into creating your online presence when your book comes out.

I know, I know. I shrink from blogging, I tweet modestly, and you won't catch me on radio. But do these things, anyway.

While you’re doing that, you should be deep in the throes of writing your next book. Write 40,000 good words every year. Always have a story going.

CLICK HERE to read every single word of that interview!

CLICK HERE to read my review of her terrific book One Crazy Summer.

Here's another review of and a few of my thoughts, as shared on Joyce Moyer Hostetter's history blog.

When I speak to kids, at the end of my talk, I love to tell them:

Now go right home and ask your grandparents, your neighbors, anybody who lived through these interesting, challenging times, to tell you all about it.

I stole that idea from Williams-Garcia's Horn Book interview:

"I’m hoping younger readers will uncover more personal stories through the “live historians” in their homes and neighborhoods." Rita Williams-Garcia