While Colleen and I both keep a generally positive outlook on the publishing process and life in general, we are both far enough into our careers that our hides have gotten pretty tough. One really has to be a bit of an armadillo to survive and stay sane in this biz, but it's equally important to stay connected to those fresh-faced first-time-author moments that felt like falling in love and climbing a mountain and falling down the rabbit hole all at once. Our friend TJ Bennet is on that ride right now. Launching her first novel, The Legacy, has a lengthy, fraught process (including a bombastically ill-timed fire at the printing facility), during which TJ has kept her head on absolutely straight. And most importantly, she's continued to write during the labor and delivery of her firstborn.
TJ posted this in her blog yesterday:
A friend of mine from California coined the term "squeee" as the joyous sound a person makes when she is squealing for, well, joy. My "squee" moment has finally arrived. I received my author copies in the mail today from my publisher, which means my long-awaited (at least by me) book is about to hit the bookshelves of America everywhere!
'Scuse me while I--
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Okay, I'm back again.
TJ is a talented author and an English prof, so she knows her stuff. There's the sqeeee, but there's also the back again. And that's what it takes. An appreciation for the ups, a pragmatic view of the downs. More about The Legacy later this week.
Go fight win, TJ!
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TJB