It’s impossible how fast babies grow in their first year! We hardly recognize them from the “old” newborn photos. Those scrawny little, needy babes get chunky, become aware and begin to vie for themselves. It’s the same in the life of a book. I’d have to say that after nine years of gestation (a little longer than nine months) the novel, House of Honor was in the NICU at birth, despite arriving on-time. Due to a mix-up with Amazon we lost ALL the pre-orders on the book and I spent day 1 on oxygen, responding to emails from dear, supportive friends asking, “Why was my order cancelled?” “Why didn’t my book arrive?” Some people wrote to me months later and said, “My book never arrived, what should I do?” No answer ever came from Amazon or the publisher and the problem never got fixed. Ugh. So we chugged along, feeding the baby with the help of others who know more about book nurture than I.
As the months passed, people came to see the baby. They awed at her eyes (the paintings by Caravaggio found inside those beautiful pages) and they listened for her voice.
Early coos came in book club gatherings, library and retirement home presentations. As a book creator and parent I began to think, people do care about the voice of my little baby, which every author doubts when writing anything. House of Honor sat up earlier than six months old when the starred review came in from Kirkus. I screamed when I read it, in joy and disbelief that New York reviewers who read thousands of books a year believed that she stood out for her “outstanding literary merit.” I get it, reviewing is totally subjective, but I’ll take a good one from people who review well over ten thousand books a year. It felt like when we took our first born son to see Dr. Lieber on his first check-up and the doctor told us, “I have no concerns with this baby.” Phew. We are all okay.
Now she is walking and like all babies, she is going places you don’t expect and getting into things! She’s been oogled in St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago, San Antonio, New York, Rome and many heartland towns throughout the midwest. She’s never been to California, but she hopes to get there! The L.A. TImes didn’t respond to a request for a review, but many don’t and so, she walks on. For anyone wanting to write a book, I offer this caution, book life is highly unpredictable and it’s personal (especially if you are writing fiction) so getting hurt and making sacrifices for something you believe in and love is part of the journey. Thomas Merton said, “Every vocation is a call to sacrifice and to joy.” I have lived the truth of this in my short, only 16 years as a professional author life. Stephen King, I bow to you. Writing as the call of a lifetime takes tremendous grit and pluck. Even if your first novel is a best-seller, you have to write the next one and it has to be better than the first.
Next week House of Honor is walking all the way to Philadelphia for a big event and a special one at that because it involves her biggest cheerleader, Charlie Philbrick, a.k.a. my adorable husband, “caveman lawyer,” “the counsellor,” and in this Italian family-saga that is House of Honor, “Consigliere.” I made a little video honoring her first birthday. We didn’t have a big party, but we did toast her growth with some good Italian wine and exotic adventures. The video also reveals specific locations mentioned in the book. Why am I choosing “her” as her correct pronoun? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out. It’s only .99cents on Kindle ebook right now and she has never been more adorable.
Thanks to all the dear family and friends who have sacrificed for her, made space for her, coaxed her along when crawling and loved her in this first year of life! More to come…
Love, BookMama Margaret