Skip to main content

How it feels when your first book is published.



As many of you are well aware, Absolved was officially released by ELectio Publishing this past Tuesday.  I had been anticipating that day for months and it came quickly.  I felt excited, of course, but had an even more overwhelming feeling of relief.  I know it might sound silly, but I spent a lot of time before the release just being nervous.  Don’t get me wrong…I wanted this.  It’s a dream come true to be published.  But the anticipation of the book I wrote being out there for anyone to read mostly just scared me. 

 

And then the day came.  Like every other day, it began with feeding my kids breakfast.  Like every other day, I sat down with coffee, said a morning prayer, read the daily mass readings.  And then I posted some links to where the book is available on facebook and twitter.

 

My husband was sweet enough to take the day off, just because it was my release day.  We took our two oldest kids to pre-school and did a little shopping with the younger two.  He let me nap, told me I could have whatever my heart desired for dinner, and proceeded to make me shrimp and grits after I requested it.  He and the kids also surprised me with a cake to celebrate the release with.  It made me tear up to see my girls holding a cake for me that said “Thank you Mommy the Author”.

 

Sitting down to eat the cake, I felt grateful.  What makes this amazing, really amazing, is support from them.  I haven’t even mentioned the support from friends…

 

All I can say is wow; I have been blessed with good people in my life.  So many of my friends jumped on the opportunity to buy the book as soon as it was available, and shared the book with others.  I just can’t say thank you enough for that. I’m struggling to even find the words to properly convey what it means to me. 

 

My husband bathed the kids for me that evening so I could hop on to social media, check out comments from friends, post more links to the book.  I really didn’t feel scared anymore, just happy the day had come.  I felt ready for people to read the story I wrote.  I hoped (and still do) that when people read it they benefitted in some way from it.

 

And that is how it felt, for me, on the day my first book was published.  I realize I still have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to book marketing.  But the book is out there now.  Really out there!  And for that, I am thankful.

 

Until next time…

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I know you're busy, but this is important

  We just ended a season of little league baseball and softball. Well, regular season ended. We just started All Stars for our youngest. Having multiple kids in sports is B-U-S-Y. We were at the ball fields every night of the week and most of the day each Saturday. The youngest had a few different tournaments, and if you know the softball tournament world you understand that you live at the ball fields those weekends. Games on Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. The baby’s second to last regular season tournament was exhausting. It was a hot weekend, my husband was working nights the first part so I was solo with all of the kids at the fields the first night, and then the second day I was literally at the fields for 9 hours. There was no time for laundry, no time to get ready for school for the week, no time for the rest I desperately wanted. Getting home that night we hardly had the energy for showers before it was time to go to bed. The next day would be a Sunday a

I don’t drink anymore. But nothing has changed! (Except everything.)

Hi, my name is Christy, and I don’t drink. I used to. I used to drink kinda frequently, actually. But now I don’t.   No, I didn’t hit some ‘rock bottom’ moment, like drinking and driving and almost killing myself (or someone else.) I didn’t stop taking care of my responsibilities while drinking. I still woke up and took care of my kids every day. I just decided that it was getting to be too much. I was starting to dislike the way I felt. And I quit. I don’t drink anymore, but nothing has changed. (Except everything.) I used to be the first to say, with a laugh, “I don’t WANT to parent without alcohol!” Parenting is hard. My children are gifts that I thank God for daily, but the work involved with raising them is the hardest work I’ve ever done. ‘Mommy wine’ culture is a thing, and I was all about it. (well, I wasn’t so much a wine girl as a beer girl, but nonetheless I bought all of the 'mommy juice' sentiment that came with drinking.) I would tell myself that I deser

A love story

Once upon a time, a 20-year-old female sailor was almost arrested for violating article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.   What was she doing, you ask?   Well, she was conducting in a nature that would bring discredit to the Navy.   More specifically?   She was drinking under the age of 21.   Even more specifically?   She was drinking a bottle of Bud Light, with approximately 8-10 other young sailors, in a friend’s barracks room. This young girl knew she shouldn’t have been drinking underage.   But she wasn’t very bright, and was not thinking of the consequences of her actions if she were to be caught, so she did it anyway. That evening, a young male sailor on duty (he was a master-at-arms in the Navy, in other words-military police) was patrolling the barracks.   He’ll tell you now, if you ask him, that he was bored and looking for something to do. Well, he found something.   He found the aforementioned girl and her friends, drinking beer at the barracks, door