When I first started this blog, I wrote a post (run with an adorable slideshow my editor made with her baby daughter) on how important my writing friends were in getting me through days when I was first trying to get published—short pieces, and then after ten years of writing, my first novel. It feels a little crazy to say that my fifth novel—seriously, my fifth!—is out in paperback this week. And honestly, you cannot believe how generous and supportive my ever-expanding group of writer friends have been.
My launch post on Facebook has reached over 30,000 Facebookers in the first day and a half, thanks to shares and shout outs from fellow writers Kristin Hannah, Christina Baker Kline, Sara Gruen, Sarah Addison Allen, Mary Kay Andrews, Marian Palaia, Gabrielle Selz, Renee Rosen, Greer Macallister, Linda Himelstein, Frances Dinkelspiel, Thaisa Frank, Harriet Chessman, Joan Lester, Pam Jenoff, Nina Schuyler, Jan Ellison, Jane Ciabattari, Liz Kay, Ellen Kirschman, Anne Clermont, Ella Joy Olsen, Colleen Oakley, Kristin Rockaway, Regina Marler, Susan Sands, Sandra Fish, Alicia Shepard, Annd Michaud and so many others that I cannot possibly list them all in the time I have tonight. But if you click on that guest tab here you will see many of them.
Yesterday and today, I visited my two local independent bookstores, Kepler’s Books and Books Inc. Palo Alto, and had lovely conversations with bookseller friends while I signed the copies of The Race for Paris they have for sale. I went to Costco to see the piles of copies they have (pinch me! I’m at Costco, in stacks between John Grisham’s latest and Girl on a Train!)—and met some lovely readers with my book already in their carts. I wedged in a little time for a last visit with my youngest brother and his kids before taking them to the airport, then went directly from SFO international departures to the San Francisco NPR affiliate, KQED, to record a piece to air tomorrow.
And yes, I did feel like pinching myself though it all.
Writers know the business side of writing is not always easy, and not always fun. Every post by every guest author I’ve ever hosted here is a testament to the need for perseverance.
But there are moments, and this is one for me, that remind us how worthwhile it all is. That is in no small part thanks to the friends I’ve made along this journey. You know who you are. THANK YOU!!!
Meg
