The Best Part

The first box of Barking Lions books that I was supposed to get was ‘stolen off the truck.’

So, I had to wait an extra week to sign copies and get them out to people who wanted them that way.

I love doing that, and while the post office is an eternal pain in the ass…I got it done on Monday.

By Wednesday morning I was hearing from people who, not only received their copy, but finished it!

“I started it and just kept going,” is a lovely thing for an author to hear.

And here’s the secret…

…during the writing process you wonder:

“Is this any good?”

By the time you’ve worked on it for months you think:

“This blows.”

But a funny thing happened with this one.

The start of it and the end of it was a small window of time. The actual writing took less than 3 months, and about halfway through, I had a sense that it would be greeted well.

I read through it after it was released and thought:

“People will like it.”

That’s a good feeling too, but when they reach out, happy to get you on the phone, and rave about their favorite parts?

Yeah.

That’s the best reward.

I truly love that part of the job and what fascinates me is that every once in awhile the reader will explain to me that “that’s what you meant to do”, when it never even entered my mind.

Years ago, at a book signing a woman argued with me about the reason why one of the characters died.

I finally said, “You’re right. I have zero idea why he died.”

But that’s the gig.

The book isn’t truly finished until the reader throws it back at you.

Sometimes the throw back hurts…

…so far, so great here.