The Best Part of Being an Author
And a small request
Writing a book is a solitary, often thankless, pursuit. But releasing a book brings out the love. The support I’ve received for my second novel, Shade of Wings, reminds me why I do this hard thing.
It’s not about sales or attention, though those are nice. Trite as it may sound, the best part of authorship for me is the community and connection that happens around books, as evidenced by my recent trip to Portland. My husband, Mark, and I went down there for a book event at Bold Coffee & Books (a great space, BTW). Since my novel is about crows, and the Rose City is going through a bout of crow mania, this visit was practically required.
The book talk went better than expected – thank you Jessie Glenn! – and we saw 15 of the city’s 30 giant painted crows (as well as many more real crows flying into downtown to roost). But the most gratifying part of the trip was seeing friends who came out of my distant past to support me.
Poet Maggie Chula taught a poetry class my husband, Mark, and I attended at the Creative Arts Community in Menucha 30 years ago. She came to the event, bought a book, gifted me one of hers, and shared a poem she’d written about crows.
We met Susan and Stuart through the (Everett) Herald, where Mark and I were young reporters and Susan worked in advertising/design. She was a bridesmaid in our 1987 wedding.
Our friendship with Oren and Michelle goes back to when our sons were playing coach-pitch baseball (one level above T-ball). Those “boys” are now pushing 30, and their son, Mo, is married.
The book event provided the catalyst for our longtime Seattle friends Trish and Eric to drive south to reconnect with their old friends, Charlie and Judy. Trish and Eric were also in our wedding party, and Charlie rented his Montlake house to us in the 1980s.
Our four days in Portland ended up being a rolling reunion full of laughter and catching up. I will look back on this trip as a high point of my life. And here’s one thing I know given our busy, distracted lives: It probably wouldn’t have happened without the book.
(And my husband’s relentless outreach. He’s as extroverted as I am introverted.)
This circle of love was my reward for those often agonizing years spent writing, editing and trying to get published.
Books, once they see the light of day, have the power to connect and reconnect. They start conversations, spawn ideas, sow reform and grow movements. They, and other art forms, take on a lives their creators never could have anticipated.
I was pleasantly surprised when the 2018 launch of my first book, The Leaving Year, brought out friends from childhood, college, and my many years in journalism. Friends in book clubs hosted me. At my 40th high-school reunion, one of the cooler kids, a football yell leader, proudly passed my book around. (As part of my research, I’d interviewed him about his experiences working at a salmon cannery in Alaska.)
Now Leaving Year is being discovered anew because of my second book. Just recently, a woman who lives on a street where we walk our dog, came out of her house to tell me how the book, set in the late 1960s, resonated with her. She later chose it for her book group.
Both of my books are categorized as Young Adult (ages 13-18), but I’ve received the most feedback and encouragement from people my age and older.
While working on Shade of Wings, my friends showered me with crow cards, crow art, crow memes, crow articles, and crow videos. Some came to me with their crow questions even though my expertise is limited to book research.
The events I’ve done to promote the novel have been well-attended and lively. Friends and family, neighbors and colleagues have bought books for themselves and for their friends and relatives. Just recently, the son of our neighbor across the street came over to have me sign his well-thumbed copy. He was almost done with it and agreed to write me a review on Goodreads or Amazon.
Which brings me to a request that feels greedy given all the support I’ve already received. First, thank you to those who’ve read or bought Shade of Wings! After you reach “The End,” please consider leaving me an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads or another review site. I’m told this has to do with algorithms, whatever those are, and that reviews drive a book’s visibility. One sentence along with a star rating is all I ask.
Help my husband spread the word. As outgoing as he is, he can only do so much.
