I love letters. Whether it’s an e-mail forwarded from my editor or a Good morning! note written by my wife and placed beside a fresh pot of coffee before leaving for work, I love ’em. (And if you don’t understand the title of this post, or how it relates, I’m sorry…but I like it!)
Let’s start with my wife. On most days, I’m the first to wake up because my job starts earlier. On other days, we carpool so she can squeeze in a workout before work (which sounds like self-inflicted torture to me). But on Friday, I slept in because I didn’t have to work. At least, not in my day job (the one with the regular paychecks). In order to spend more time on my second novel, I’m taking some personal leave from the library. During the next four weeks, I’ll have four-day weekends. And to help inspire me for Day 1 of my new schedule, my wife left me one of the most beautiful notes I’ve ever read. I’m not going to tell you everything it said (because tears have a way of messing up my keyboard), but it included lines like “Just take a deep breath and let yourself do what you do best…write :-)” and “...trust yourself…” and “P.S. Here's coffee for you.” And even though I woke up later than I’d planned, the coffee was still warm!
Now, onto the e-mail. When the Thirteen Reasons Why galleys went out recently, they included a letter from my editor on the first page. She also included her e-mail address in case anyone wanted to share their thoughts. Well, someone did. And once again, I’m not going to repeat everything it said for the same reason as mentioned above (let's just say that when I showed it to our head children’s librarian, she started crying). Here are a couple snippets: “I found myself trying to read faster, to find out what was going on, while at the same time trying to read slower so that it would last longer” and “…it reminded me of why I love reading.”
So what does that kind of letter do to a debut novelist? For one thing, it makes it a heckuva lot more stressful to write Book 2!
- Jay
Friday, May 11, 2007
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14 comments:
Alright...alright...now I'M going to cry! And I actually did when you read me that letter from a reader. How amazing was that?
And your adorable wife is right...the thing that you do best is write.
:-)
Robin
I wish you'd have published the whole letter, so I'd have an idea about what to write in my wife's mother's day card tomorrow. I have no idea, I'm such an unromantic. Maybe I'll steal what you did include, she'll like that.
Jay, I know you're a nice guy, so I'll assume you have no idea how torturous this type of post is for all of us little folks out here in the blogosphere who don't have copies of your ARC and have to wait until what seems like forever and a day to read the d*mned thing. Next thing you know, you'll be linking to all sorts of glowing reviews.
Why don't you just write, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!" and be done with it?!?
Sigh.
Because that'd be rude, Linda. And I'd much rather be torturous than rude!
- Jay
Okay, not to make anyone jealous (hee, hee) but I've finished reading Jay's ARC, and I've started a THIRTEEN REASONS WHY thread on Verla's here: http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php?topic=19111.0
:-) Natalie
Wow, Natalie! That was an INCREDIBLE review. I don't think I can cry any more today. Can't do it!!!
Never mind...waaaaaahhhhh!
-Robin
Hey Natalie,
Great review!
And Jay, how about passing out a couple more ARC's to the peons? Whew! The suspense for this one is passing the suspense for WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr.
So nice that someone who doesn't even know you loves your book! Go, Jay!
Alright, that's it. I'm going to take Natalie's review and the e-mail my editor sent me and that's it! I've always said that I won't read reviews (good or bad), but these two kinda snuck up on me. And they were great (fantabulous, even), which is why I need to put my foot down. It's called self-preservation.
But if I can get some more ARCs, we'll have another contest. And then you can read it, you can even tell Robin and Eve about it, but...Aaaaagh!...I'm trying to write a follow-up!
- Jay
P.S. Thanks for the review, Natalie.
You're welcome, Jay...thanks for writing such a great book! I can't believe you've sworn off reading future reviews...not even a peek? A tiny peek? Because you'd better get used to hearing nice things about your book. :-)
I always kinda wondered how authors felt about being incredibly successful on their first go -- now I know.
They go batty.
Awesome, Jay! Yes, I am trying to score and ARC, but not from you. I dropped into my local independent a few days ago and chatted with the owner and asked if maybe, just maybe, she might have a copy I could borrow...and she does, but couldn't find it! But here's the part you'll like: I asked, "Is it as good as I think it's going to be?" And with a quiet gravity, she said, "YES." Then I made her promise to keep looking. :)
I've always been a huge fan of quiet gravity...
- Jay
I'm sipping hot chocolate this morning, and that can only mean one thing...
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