There is some connection between losing at poker and getting good news in my writing life that I don’t understand, but am not questioning. I lost $7 Monday night – and found out today that the first (or first that I know of, anyway) giveaway of advance copies of The Four Ms. Bradwells has just gone up on Goodreads. Yikes! I barely have anything about it on my author website yet. My friends at Ballantine are definitely busy.
It’s hard to say why this is so exciting to me. Copies of the book went out to booksellers and reviewers in October; I’m already getting great responses. And yes, booksellers and reviewers are real readers. Yet there is nothing quite like readers who are unconnected to the business, who read for pure pleasure and nothing else, raising their hands to say they’d like to read my books.
For my part, I’ve got my head buried in writing the next novel. I had a great writing day yesterday: 1,000 words before breakfast, 2,000 before noon – and the last of the three narrator voices fell into place, too. (Like I said, I lost $7 at poker!) That left me the afternoon to go through pass pages for the paperback of The Language of Light, and to brainstorm ideas for a piece I’ve been asked to pitch for a major women’s magazine. I would tell you which one, but that would certainly jinx me. And having lost at poker this week, things could continue to go well in my writing life if I’m careful not to jinx myself. – Meg
Afternote: In response to a comment, I thought I’d give a little more detail about the Poker Loss-Writing Win connection. I’ve been playing poker with a group of friends for several years now. I had a long winning streak, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, the first year or so we played – a time during which I was struggling to get a second novel published. The first time I lost at poker, my agent sold The Wednesday Sisters before the next time I played. And there has been some strange correlation going on ever since. Every time I lose money at the poker table, something good happens in my writing life. The week I learned The Wednesday Sisters was the Target Book Club Selection for the Summer of 2009 (and they were ordering more copies than I’d ever imagined selling anywhere, much less at a single chain) was the first time I went home with not a dime of the $20 I’d brought to the poker table. Coincidence? Well, maybe. But I take every thing that might look like a blessing of any sort from the literary gods. And to be honest, it makes losing all my money to Lalita Tademy and Ellen Sussman easier to take!
