In December of 2005, I received my box of author copies of THE PREY, my first book.
There is nothing as exciting–except maybe holding your child after birth–than holding your first book. Months, sometimes years, of work to create a story that someone loved enough to published . . . and there it is, right in your hand. A story that started with an intangible idea, a spark of an idea, now a real book.
Long ago, a multi-published author–I can’t remember who–told me to savor each moment of publication, not just for the first book or the second, but every book after that. Because eventually, I may become complacent, or disgruntled, and I won’t take the time to simply enjoy holding a new book for the first time.
On Friday I received two copies of my fourteenth book–CARNAL SIN. It didn’t matter all the anguish that went into this book both during the writing and during production; it didn’t matter that we had cover changes and ended up with something I didn’t particularly want; I love this book. Holding it reminded me of everything I loved about writing it; I remembered my characters, the storyline, the decisions I made and the characters made. And even though this is #14, it feels like the first time.
I turned in my revisions for LOVE ME TO DEATH, the first Lucy Kincaid book, this weekend. A completely different story than CARNAL SIN. Not forgotten the book or the fact that it goes on sale in less than three weeks, but I’d put the world I’d created out of my head. Maybe that’s why seeing CS in print was so exciting–I was so immersed in my latest story that I’d put aside the paranormal.
I was probably more excited–at least I showed it more–when I received a box full of THE PREY. But my heart still pounded and I couldn’t help but smile when I held the first physical copy of CARNAL SIN.
Sometimes, the business of writing is almost unbearable. And there’s a lot of things about the business–everything but the writing part–that is frustrating or completely out of your control. That’s why enjoying the simple things–like holding the first copy of every book–is so important. It reminds us why we write, what we love about this story, and that even with all the pain and anguish of writing and production and the business of writing, the most important thing IS the story, exemplified in the final book.
What’s one thing you do that always feels new and wonderful? No matter how small . . .
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