Cool news: I’m published! OK, I mean self-published. But because the book was published online not by myself but by two of my loved ones as a surprise gift, I’m technically not self-published. In any case, ‘published’ is an adjective I’m enjoying throwing around this week, a bit like ‘succinct’. Last week it was ‘contingent’. (Don’t ask. Or I’ll have to delve into details from a parent committee meeting at my eldest son’s preschool.)
In any case – remember, Heddi, succinct, succinct, succinct! – this is possibly the best present I’ve ever been given, better even than a year’s supply of apricot white tea unavailable here in New Zealand. My self-published book is a selection of blog posts from Confessions of a Wannabe Writer, from the last two and a half years of pouring out my heart to you on my ongoing journey to publish my memoir: the excitement, the rejections, the laughter, the tears! Remember, O my Best Beloved? And then all the musings about language and all the fun writing in Italian too…Week after week, how we have laughed and suffered together! And it’s all there, in full color with shiny cover.
When I first unwrapped the copy of my own book – so thick and book-like – honest to god my first thought was, “Who wrote this?”
Funny how while trying to publish my book, I ended up writing another one.
…But I’d promised I’d be brief. The best short and sweet adjectives I can find to describe how I felt to receive such a gift? Blown away, grateful and a little bit famous. A few adjectives to describe the book itself: funny, heartfelt, sometimes witty and decidedly (for this struggling author) inspiring.
Confessions of a Wannabe Writer by Heddi Goodrich can be purchased on lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/shop/heddi-goodrich/confessions-of-a-wannabe-writer/paperback/product-20844675.html.