I wrote a beautiful book...and that needs to be enough.
I wrote a beautiful book, and today, that needs to be enough.
Today, my book, To Sicily with Love, released.
I’ve always been obsessed with learning and listening and reading anything to do with marketing and branding. I am inundated daily with articles, posts, podcasts, and videos instructing me on all the amazing ways to reach readers and make your book standout on release week.
Because I have strong INPUT in my Gallup Strengths, I’ve taken multiple courses and am always open to new ideas and information. I also have a hunger that drives me to do everything possible to get people to know my book exists. I have a business degree. I understand separating the writer from the marketing/branding/publishing part is critical. I am good at detaching myself on release day so I don’t get hurt by criticism or the failure of my high expectations.
Being a writer is a roller coaster of emotion. Practice helps. After writing over fifty books, a release day has become less about chasing statistics and more about thanking everyone for sharing and showing up. I’ve dealt with both bitter disappointment and the taste of failure, and highs of buzzy happiness and optimism.
Today, I decided to simply enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. To remind myself of my bravery and discipline to show up every day, no matter what happens, to tell a story. To be a creative in a world of growing toxicity and unrest.
I wrote a book I truly love. It’s a book about a woman who’s wrecked by grief after her mother dies. Her perfect life crumbles around her and after taking a DNA test, she finds a family she never knew existed in Sicily. She decides to meet them and spends the summer learning about her mother’s past, and making new discoveries about her life and what she wants. There’s romance, and found family, and deep emotional themes. There’s also yummy food and a setting that made me sigh with pleasure.
I wrote a great book and now it’s in the world’s hands. Yes, I will go on podcasts and do social media videos and post excerpts and all the things I’ve learned to help give the book more opportunitites.
But as hard as I work? There’s a certain element of the unknown – of luck – that also goes into how well a book does. One day doesn’t define the potential of a book’s life. It can pop at anytime. I am endlessly hopeful because it feels better than dooming my hard work and the team behind it, even if it doesn’t get an orange flag on Amazon or get picked by a book club, or be made into a movie.
Too many times, I’ve judged the book I wrote on the world’s opinion and how they received it. It’s a hard thing to accept and eventually understand public acclaim doesn’t automatically equate to value. As writers, if we are hostages by other’s opinions or judgments on our work, we are doomed to be unhappy.
We are doomed to lose our joy in the simply act of creation, and badassery of sharing how we see and interpret the world.
It’s a gift we need to protect.
For now, I will sleep well no matter what happens because I wrote the best book I could AT THE TIME. It made me cry and laugh out loud. It made me happy. It will give many readers a beautiful escape and make them feel emotions. It may even give them hope.
That is enough.
I allow it to be enough.
I wish everyone who has a book birthday all the success and peace in the world!