Offering my story to the world

My husband was very nervous when he asked me to marry him. He got down on one knee, presented the ring and said, “So I got this for you, and I hope you like it.”

Then he stood up. It took a good couple of seconds for him to realize he’d never actually asked me anything at all. He’s probably going to kill me for writing this, but I’ve always found it endearing, and think it might have been one of the funniest moments of our relationship.

Now it’s seven years later and I’ve published my first book. I know writing a book is a bit different from giving someone an engagement ring, but there is a kind of promise in it. It’s a beginning. A whole new era—a new relationship with readers, my own writing, and myself.

It’s kind of a crazy thing, to have written a book. It’s surreal to be looking at it on Amazon, to see a cover with my name on it, and know that behind it are hours, days, weeks, months, even years of hard work. I’ve spent so much time with these characters that they feel like real people to me, but I know something about this book changed the minute it appeared on the bookseller sites:

It’s no longer my story. It’s yours.

This was something I learned when I went to the Smart Bitches workshop at the Chicago Spring Fling RWA conference. Once the book is out there, it doesn’t belong to me anymore. It belongs to the readers. The story I put together of two people falling in love and how they get over their own shit enough to do so is going out there into the world, and all I can do is blow my characters a kiss and hope they’re able weather the storm of ridicule and criticism that might come their way, hopefully stumbling into the e-readers of people who will accept them. Remember them.

Love them.

So I guess writing a book isn’t so different from asking someone to marry you. It’s an author pouring her heart out, her whole soul sitting there on a page, and hoping someone will see all the love you do and reflect it back at you. It’s absolutely terrifying, and now I see why my husband was so nervous when he proposed that he forgot to actually say the words “Will you marry me?” I’m here now just like him, virtually on one knee, offering this story to the world. To you.

So, hey, readers. I wrote this book for you. I hope you like it.

Comments

  1. mugglemom08 says:

    Read it, loved it, can’t wait for seconds.

  2. Congrats!!!
    Pre-ordered at Barnes & Noble today. Can’t wait.

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