Book Day

I remember reading somewhere an essay all about book publication day.  The writer, whose name I can’t remember, tells of spending the entire day feeling like something HUGE might happen.  Toward the end of the day, another writer friend of hers who also has a book out on the same day phones and the two of them laugh like crazy. They’ve both been anticipating this huge event and not a single thing has changed.  The essay is very funny and wise – it reminds you as a writer not to be too attached to end results.  BUT it also gives you as a writer the excuse to feel that weird anticipation – the feeling I have today.  My second book is published today.  Surely something HUGE should happen in my life to mark this momentous occasion!

Nothing huge will happen.  Of course the sky won’t split in two, the world won’t sway on its hinges.  But I am a little changed by today – I feel pleased and proud and nervous and excited and worried, like you will when you get your stories and books published.  

The strange anticipation of today will be with me until bedtime tonight, I imagine, and then I’ll get on with writing the next book.  After all, writing is the best way for a writer to spend their time.  And the pleasure and pain of book publication day will be over until the next time…