A Quiet Thing

That's me in the right corner, playing Margie in "A 1940s Radio Hour Christmas Carol". It runs through Dec. 20th here in Nashville. Info at www.thelarrykeetotheatre.org

Hello world. I know, I didn't post a single thing here in November. It was a busy month. I was asked to be in a Christmas play, and even though I knew I had a book coming out, I said yes. I had to. I didn't have to audition, and it was a great part. Nobody turns that down.  So, I was rehearsing "1940s Radio Show Christmas Carol" all of November. Plus, I was doing last minute proofing of Whisper of the Woods and lining up reviewers to look at my ARCs. No time for blogging. Sorry for the silence.

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But, since we're on the subject of silence. I thought I'd say something about what it's like to be a relatively unknown author  with a book release a week before Thanksgiving. It's a quiet thing. It's a little like a branch falling off a tree in the woods. Only the animals right there even notice it. Branches are falling all the time. Some even get stuck in the tree and don't even make it to the ground.  I'm sure it's kind of a big deal to the tree. Maybe even to a bird, snake, or squirrel who like to hang out on that branch.  It's probably even a little noisy, but what is that noise in the middle of a forest of noise? (Like my woods metaphor? That's me trying to be clever.)

Well, that's what my book releases are like. I spent a lot of time working on the book. In my head the whole world revolves around Juniper Sawfeather and her exploits. I posted about my process of writing the book here and everywhere all year long. As the November 21st date approached, I Tweeted, Instagramed, Facebooked, Tumblrd, etc. as much as I could possibly do. I even got some good friends helping me out. My cover reveal day was one of the best I've ever had. In my head it's very loud. The promos are shouting. Rockets are shooting off. There are fireworks.

In the real world, it's a little plop. That branch falling on a bed of moss.

To make it worse, I had a rehearsal all day on my book release day. I couldn't even do my Internet stuff until the next day. Then it was Thanksgiving, and all the hustle and bustle of Black Friday. I was going into tech week and opening night of my show. No time whatsoever to do anything about letting the world know that this new book existed. I couldn't even figure out when to have a book release party at the local bookstore. So, I decided to have one at the theater, after our Sunday matinee. It too was a quiet thing. But I did sell books, and we had fun eating cake and drinking wine. 

Some of my friends have big followings, and their release days are loud. Some of my friends are published by the big five, and their release days are deafening. Maybe someday I'll have that too. In the meantime, I'm grateful for my friends and fans who took the time on release day to order copies, so I could check my stats during my breaks from rehearsal and see the sales rank go up. I'm also grateful to Fire and Ice Young Adult Books for publishing my work. They're a great team, and I'm proud to be part of it.

Learn more about Whisper of the Woods and find links to purchase here.

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I ordered 50 of these babies from my publisher. If you go to Lulu.com and put in the code HOLIDAYS25 before December 15th, you can get 25% off any print books. So, get yourself a copy of this and Cry of the Sea for yourself or as a gift for someone on your Christmas list. Perfect for ages 12 and up.