Friday, April 04, 2008

Back to the Beginning -- Jay

When my book first sold, I had a funny conversation with my editor. Even though I’d been trying to sell a book for years, I never really considered what I would do when it happened. How time consuming would it be to promote a book? How flexible of a schedule would I need?

“Should I quit my job?” I asked. “I mean, I love my job…but if you want me to, I’ll do it.” For making my dream come true, I would’ve done pretty much anything she asked.

My editor, who was used to dealing with nervous and excited new authors, told me to take a deep breath.

“Like this?” I asked. I wanted to breathe to her exact specifications.

I work at a library, which we both saw as a positive. And I worked Tuesday through Saturday, so I was able to pack a lot of school visits into those Mondays.

But it’s all changing now. Starting this coming week, I’ll be working Monday through Friday, which means my amount of school visits are going to have to decrease a bit. And I love school visits. When I first started doing them, I was scared out of my mind. But they quickly became my favorite aspect of being an author.

My last school visit was an awesome one, though. I returned to where it all began. I spoke to three college classes taught by Nancy Hurd. When I took her class, it was called Children's Literature Appreciation. And you’ll find Mrs. Hurd listed in the acknowledgements pages of Thirteen Reasons Why, mentioned as the reason I wrote my first book.

Fortunately, the managing editor of the school paper was there to catch it...

- Jay


BONUS COOLNESS: Thirteen Reasons Why just re-entered the NY Times Best Sellers list at #5!!!

5 comments:

Angela Ackerman said...

That must have been great to go back to an old instructor and be able to speak to a new class of writers of your success.

Congrats too on the NYTB!

Erik said...

Dude! #5!???

You're getting beat by "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".....what the hell?

I mean, couldn't it at least have been "Diary of the Greatest Children's Book Author of All Time" or something? or "Diary of Awesomeness"?

Then I would understand.

But now.....well....now you're just getting beaten by a wimp.




:-)








Congrats man,

EK

Disco Mermaids said...

You know what's worse than getting beaten by a wimpy kid? Getting beaten by the sequel of a wimpy kid!!!

- Jay

Jeannine Garsee said...

Jay, I saw the article about you in ALAN. Congratulations! And I just wanted to say that I loved Thirteen Reasons Why.

Anonymous said...

Jay, it's impossible for me to be happier for you. And the more it moves up (knock wood) the more I remember James Franco. SWAK!