if you watch any of those awful shows on television like The Annoying Housewives of Wherever, or Sixteen, In a Trailer Park and Pregnant, you'll know that they're awful and the people on them are equally as awful. You'll also know that at the end of the season they have a special show where they all get together and talk. Actually they just shout and cry. It's horrible, obviously. So why am I talking about this? Because I was in bed last night thinking about SUNDAY DINNERS and it occurred to me that publishing a book is a bit like the reunion episodes they have on those terrible reality shows. I'm losing you, aren't I? Let me explain.
When you publish a book the anxiety is awful. It's as bad as a teenage relationship. Do they like me? What if they don't like me? I bet they don't like me. After a week, SUNDAY DINNERS has 15 lovely, wonderful reviews, but I'm still worried, nervous, and fretting over it's success. I've likened it before to watching a child go off into the world. Every day I watch as my 6 year old daughter goes to school, we kiss, hug, wave goodbye and I watch her walk away and I'm thinking, please have a great day, I hope people are nice to her and like her. It's the same with watching my book make it's way in the world. I hope people are nice to it and like it.
So back to the awful reality show reunion episodes. What's that got to do with publishing a book? Well, when you publish a book you go through the drama, the tears (the regular episodes of the show) and then eventually when it's all done, when the books out, all the marketing and interviews are done, you reach a point when you sit down and think about the whole process. Admittedly, there's much less shouting and crying at my reunion show, but the idea is the same. It's about a final goodbye. Because that's it now. SUNDAY DINNERS is done. There's nothing more I can do. It's time for the reunion show and then it's time to move on.
It's always bittersweet moving on. I'm super excited to start a new project, but sad to say goodbye to something I've spent the last year and a half working on. To the characters I've grown to love. It's why I need the reunion show. I need one last moment to really go over everything before I'm done. One last chance to get everything out in the open so we can all move on. Although from what I've seen of those reality shows, those characters never move on. They're happy to keep arguing and shouting and crying forever. Lucky writers aren't like that.
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| SUNDAY DINNERS JUST 99P! |
Until next time.
Hugs,
Jon X
