Month: October 2013

The ever-vigilant Samantha Ann King sent me the above today – and I made a screenshot. If you go to CarinaPress.com today, you’ll can see it live. But the list changes daily, thus the screenshot.

A book release brings such an odd mix of emotions. For a long time it seems forever away and then it’s next week. I get all excited for people to FINALLY read it – and then they mention they’ve got it (reviewers get it early) and are reading. Then I go into this frenzied spiral of concern. I’m like the family dog who’s hoping she gets to go on the trip, but is terrified she’ll be left behind. I get all hopeful and excited, but also filled with dread. Will they love it? Hate it? Does the dog bed mean I’m just going to the kennel??

Then I have to go pee.

Really, what gets me through all of it is my wonderful writer friends. They are the ones who know what it’s like. They watch the lists, like the one above. It makes me crazy to look at the lists and rankings like that, so I finally stopped. And they know that about me. When I tweeted back my thank you to Sam, she said “Somebody has to look out for you.” Because she knows that about me.

Sometimes I think that having other people know you is the closest we come to true communion, to the essence of love.

My friends reblog and retweet and share the good stuff and – most of all – they are happy for me. Not only are they there to hold my hand and talk me through the trials, they want to celebrate my successes, too. By this they show their tremendous generosity. Being happy for a friend is a tremendous gift.

See how wonky I am right now?

Speaking of wonky, the Wonk-O-Mance blog has a fun post up today, showing writer’s working spaces. They run a fabulous gamut from one gal’s car to another’s specialized garret. My treadmill desk is there, too.

I also really love this post about the real numbers behind self-publishing. I do think self-publishing is a great venue – heck, I’ve self-pubbed two books – but the numbers that get thrown around, fabulous, exciting, pyramid-scheme-worthy numbers, often strike me as … possibly inflated. People are enthusiastic and that kind of excitement leads to a lot of “I Want to Believe.” This article sheds a bit of bright light on that phenom.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!