My first book is finally published
BONUS MATERIAL: The below video is my sister Heidi killing it on the piano. She's such an awesome piano player. No lie, it makes me wish I had stuck with it past second or third grade or whenever it was that I decided piano was for sissy girls and not macho boys, and quit. Just click play and listen while you read this blog. It really is beautiful.
It's the day every wannabe writer dreams about.
Today, my first published book will be in my hands.
I held the proof a few weeks ago. It wasn't book quality. It was cheap paper and cheap binding and the "cover" was a digital printout on photo paper that Katie taped around the proof of the book. But still....it felt like holding a child. I know that probably sounds like a gross exaggeration, but it did.
I can't imagine what it's going to feel like today, to pick up the real thing.
This book is our baby. I spent a year and a half writing it. Katie designed the cover, the inside. We both slaved over this thing in its final stages.
It put us at each others' throats once in awhile.
But last night, way later than we should have been up with such a long day ahead, we lay in bed just looking at each other and talking. Talking about this, about how we've been working toward this for so long, how I've sacrificed jobs for this and how she's stood by my so strongly through this. We didn't remember the fights or the stress or the tension or the anger or the mistakes.
None of that existed anymore.
I'm sure there will be a mistake or two in the book somewhere. Maybe more than that. That really had me worried for awhile. But then I just decided that that's what second editions are for, and that I was going to enjoy the crap out of this.
I just can't believe this day is finally here. I am mostly thrilled out of my mind. I want to be completely thrilled out of my mind. And I will be, soon as I see the books and see that they printed right. I had nightmares last night about the book printing being all out of whack. Ridiculous nightmares, nightmares about things that absolutely positively could not possibly come true, but nightmares nonetheless. So I need to see them. I need to see my babies.
And around 1 p.m. today, I will. I'll be in Lillington with Katie, checking them out, then we'll be hauling a load of them to Wilson, and the launch will begin with Ant and I speaking at Barton's Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting tonight.
A year and a half ago, I was just some dumb kid with an idea for a book with no clue that it would actually come to be.
Today, I'm a published author.
In time, I'll introduce you all to the people who made it possible. They deserve to be recognized, and they are in the acknowledgements of the book, but I want to write a little more about them. My writing is always about people, and almost always others, not myself. I want to keep it that way, even in promoting the book, because I have to do a lot of promotion, but I don't want to get so narcissistic that I forget I didn't do this on my own.
But for now, all I can think is....
Wow.
- Brandon
3 Comments | Sep 20, 2010
Reader Comments (3)
The girl's got SKILLS! GO HEIDI!
Congrats dude! That's outstanding. Enjoy the way you feel; so many people try to get published, so few make it. That's awesome news!
Paul, thanks man! Like I just wrote in my new post, it honestly just hasn't sank (sunk? sunken? sinked?) in yet because I'm so busy with other things. But it's a fun ride, and I'm just trying to enjoy it. Thanks for the support, bro.