Not MY book club

I barely slept on Wednesday night.  The reason?  I was invited to the book club of an acquaintance, who had arranged that her book club read my book for their February meeting.  I. was. nervous.  I have taught at least a thousand days worth of (language) classes, I've spoken before dozens at professional conferences, and was not nervous about any of that.  Yet I was kept up at night in anticipation of sitting with around 10 women - three of whom I know - to talk about my book.  There is something about sharing my writing with others that scares me, and I don't know why.  I suppose that I like my book even though I realize it is not the Great American Novel.  I do think that the fact that it is self-published rather than backed by a traditional publisher could have something to do with it.  It's just me and my book.  Hoping people read it.  Hoping people like it.

It took me a good hour to shake off my nervousness.  My acquaintance - and I say this because as lovely and kind and fun as she is, the book club hostess is not a good friend of mine because we just haven't had that much time to get to know each other.  And yet she went to all this work to organize this.  She got the books for everyone, she had them over to her house, she prepared lovely food (and amazing cupcakes), and was one of the most gracious hostesses I've ever met.  People can just be so nice!  I read all the bad and sad headlines of awfulness in the world, but really there are incredibly nice and friendly people in the world.  And they were at this book club meeting.

A hundred questions were asked - is the book autobiographical?  Why is the main character half Chinese?  How long did it take me to write the book?  How much research did I do?  How does self-publishing work? How many copies have I sold?  Did I take writing classes?  I tried my best to answer them all.

So they have read my book, learned about the writing process, the publishing process, they drank wine, ate food, chatted with their friends... it was a lovely evening.  One of the people I do know who was a part of the club sent me an e-mail saying that I had done a good job answering the questions (whew!)  My only, teensy tiny wish that was not fulfilled is that I didn't get a good sense of how they liked the story.  A few of them made it clear that they had, but the vast majority didn't.  I asked them if they would write me reviews on Amazon.  There haven't been any new reviews since the book club, but I keep checking... then maybe I'll get a better idea of what they thought.

What an exciting, different experience.  Thanks Bridget!!!

Exhale...

The ball is rolling

I try to spend about an hour a day working on something to do with being an author.  Sometimes, I don't even manage to get in five minutes before I'm too tired and watching a movie on tv instead.  Sometimes, I manage 3 hours in one day.  But the average is probably about an hour, and it seems to be enough to keep the ball rolling.

This week, things started coming together:

• I finalized plans to do a reading at a local bookstore, The Munich Readery.  The reading will take place on January 14th.  We'll sell Turkish wine by the glass at the reading, and we'll also provide "pogaca" for snacking.  I'll have signed books available for sale.  I am VERY excited.
• An acquaintance with whom I occasionally play tennis and who is also totally friendly, liked the sound of my book and asked her book club if they wanted to read it and have me as a guest on the evening when they discuss my book.  And they said YES!! That will happen in February.  I am VERY excited.
• My book was mentioned in the Alumni newsletter of my high school, and the Alumni Relations Coordinator gave me some contact information for the instructors who should hear about my book.  So far, two instructors have written, expressing their interest and saying they would buy my book.  The librarian jumped at an offer of a copy, so my mother will bring her one.  Moms rock.  The instructors both sounded genuinely interested in Secrets of a Summer Village.  I loved my high school.  Being a teenager was as awkward for me as it is for anyone (or perhaps it was more awkward for me), but my high school was really special and different and truly inspired me to go for my dreams.  I would be thrilled if the students there read my book and let me know what they think of it, what they learned from it, and whether they want a sequel.  I am VERY excited.
• I'm finally in touch with a local international high school that is interested in having me lecture about the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Sign Language(s).  This has nothing to do with Secrets of a Summer Village EXCEPT that I mentioned the book when I was talking to them, and they're now also interested in my talking to their students about my book, the writing process, and maybe about self-publishing. 
• One of my brothers ordered a bunch of copies of my book to give as Xmas gifts.  I hope that none of the future recipients is reading this... Aren't brothers great?  

In order to keep things going, I've been working on some sample illustrations for my next book, which is a children's picture book about the winter solstice.  The illustrations are made of paper, like the cover of Secrets of a Summer Village, using a method called quilling.  I have submitted the text to a number of agents.  I get the feeling that they liked it but not enough to take me on as a client.  A large portion of agents that represent children's books only represent author-illustrators.  Even though I'd rather have some awesome artist illustrate my books, I'm just going to try and see.  What makes me feel significantly better is the quality of the illustrations in some of our children's books.  Or, shall I say, lack of quality.  It's worth a try.  Without illustrating the book myself, those agents are entirely out of reach to me.

I'm also filling out a form so that I can submit my ESL-version manuscript to Macmillan Education.  I am not very hopeful that someone as big as Macmillan would take on the project, but I have nothing to lose in trying....

Which is the message to take from this blog.  Try.  You just don't know until you try. 

Book Club

I am a member of a book club.  In fact, I'm a founding member.  A friend and I somehow came up with the idea to start a book club and invite a couple of friends who live nearby to join us.  I don't know how the general public feels about book clubs, but my favorite part about the book club is that it gives me an excuse to get together with a few friends once a month.  Sometimes, we even talk about the book we've chosen to discuss.  It often creates stress for me because I can be a procrastinator, and if I don't like the book too much, I find many things I'd rather do than read it.  Recently, it's been particularly hard for me to read because I've been working so hard on the printing and promotion of my own book.  But book clubs are good for reasons other than meeting your friends.

The way we run ours is that we suggest and select the books together.  This means that we all end up reading books that we might otherwise not have chosen to read.  It also means that we may not like the books.  Like English class, we force ourselves to read anyway.  Normally, I would not do this.  I have started many books I didn't like, but I don't finish them.  I have no qualms about deciding halfway through a book that I don't like it, and putting it away, forever.  Finishing the books, or at least trying to, is an excellent exercise for me as a writer.  It forces me to identify what I do and don't like about a book because I will actually have to articulate my feelings at book club. 

In my press release, I offer to join book clubs via Skype or telephone as they discuss my book.  I sure hope I get taken up on my offer, but I also hope that they're both honest and kind.