Counting Down

A writer only begins a book, it is the reader who completes it; for the reader takes up where the writer left off as new thoughts stir within him. ~David Harris Russell

That’s a writer’s hope anyway.

To inspire, entertain, encourage, motivate, and so on.

It doesn’t always happen. Writers and publishers know how illusory magic is, but books by the thousands still hit the shelves every year.

As a reader, I’m thrilled by that. As a writer — with a book debuting in less than two weeks — I’m overwhelmed.

And nervous.

Don’t get me wrong. I like my book. I wouldn’t have written it if I hadn’t.

It’s taken years to get it just the way I want. I’m proud of the effort, satisfied at completing the journey.

But what if others don’t like it?

At one time I thought I wouldn’t care. Realistically, you can’t please all the people all the time, and as a journalist, I often wrote things others disagreed with.

But this book is my baby, and the mom in me wants to wrap it in a protective blankie and shelter it from harm.

What if it gets scathing reviews? Or worse, NO reviews?

What if nobody buys it? Not that I’m expecting to get rich off it, but my publisher would like it to sell.

I have a few advance copies, one of which I shared with a friend of mine.

She loved it and shared it with a friend of hers, who wasn’t as enthusiastic.

Her comments stung for a bit, but she’s entitled to her opinion.

Maybe the kind of book I wrote really isn’t her cup of tea, and she was just reading it because our mutual friend encouraged her.

That happens. We all do more word-of-mouth buying than we think.

And, while part of me wonders how much promoting I should be doing, the other part is burying her head in the sand, writing the second book of the series.

Because, you know, that’s what writers do. We write.