Book Signing? Me? No, It Couldn't Be.

I've been wanting to share this fun news with you for a while but because I write under a pseudonym to keep this blog more or less anonymous, I wasn't sure how to do it.

Then I decided that even though I couldn't give all the details, I could still share some of this lovely thing in my life with you. Especially because your support of my writing has meant so much to me and is one of the reasons that I've kept at it.

OK, here it is! Two of my posts are being published in a book which is coming out in a few weeks. And this is how it happened.

Around the time I decided to quit my regular job to pursue my working from home life, a good friend told me about an editor that was looking for stories about mothers. This editor was putting together a compilation book for a popular publisher.

I didn't really know where to start since my writing experience consisted mostly of creating business and legal documents. But I had gotten some practice writing personal stories on this blog so I thought I'd give it a try.

I wrote two stories. One about my mother and I and the other about my son and I (both stories are in the favorite posts section of my blog). I sent the stories to the editor not expecting to ever hear from her.

But low and behold, a few months later she contacted me and said she liked both stories. You have no idea how excited and surprised I was. Wow, she read them and actually liked them. Woohoo! She said that she would contact me later about the possibility of the stories going into the book.

I waited patiently...actually not patiently at all. I wanted to e-mail her every single day a hundred times asking what the hell was going on!! But by some force beyond my own understanding I held back.

Then finally a few weeks later another e-mail. She said was down the road in terms of picking the stories she liked and even though she thought my essays where a good fit, she wanted them to be combined into one story. What? It had taken all my creative juices to write two genuine stories about two separate incidents and now I had to magically make them one story? Hmmm. I didn't think I could do it. I was scared of changing what I thought were the best stories I could write into one mediocre jumbled story that would be disappointing to her. But with the encouragement of my husband, I kept the stories intact and connected them with a few transition sentences. I sent her the combined essay and held my breath.

Months went by and I didn't hear anything from her. Hello! Didn't she know that I was on pins and needles waiting for her reaction? Maybe she thought the combined story was just not good enough.

I had almost given up hope when one day I got an e-mail saying that she had recommended that my essay be included in the book but that the publisher had the last word. For peek's sake!! How long do I have to wait to know if my stories will be published?

Another few months later, the publisher e-mailed me to say congratulations and to ask that I fill out a waiver and an agreement! Yeah!!!! Finally.

It only took seven months from writing the stories to getting them in print. The book comes out at the end of this month.

The whole thing is kind of crazy but so fun. One of my friends is even having a book signing party for me...can you believe that? I laughed at the whole idea but I'm super grateful and excited to share my story and so thankful to her (and you!!!!) for supporting me all these months.