Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown
I’m excited today about getting the first copy of my new release, Words Spoken True. I’ve had my ear tuned for the UPS truck to bounce into my driveway for several days now because I knew it was close to time for that advance copy to make its way to me. It takes so long to turn a story into a real book you can hold in your hand that the day when you do actually hold that book and see your words inside is a day to celebrate.
So I’ve been celebrating today by sharing the news with my Facebook friends and family. (And planning a new celebration giveaway. I’ll announce details soon.) One of the things I said on my Facebook writer’s page was how I loved holding a new book in my hand and thinking about readers picking it up and sharing my story. Such a promise.
Then one of my friends got me thinking with her comment that as a reader, she loved holding a new book too. I knew what she meant. I’ve had that same feeling many times when I picked up a new book to read. Perhaps it was by a favorite author that I knew was going to entertain or inspire me. Perhaps it was just the story that held out promise. Perhaps it was simply holding the book and knowing that I was going to be able to live some new adventures or through some historical times with the characters inside. People a writer had captured in words that were going to spring to life in my mind and let me accompany them on their journey through the pages.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever book I might be holding when I was feeling that promise was a new release. A book unread is a new book to the reader whatever the publication date. Samuel Butler says it well in this quote. “The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.”
Release dates are fun. Holding a book fresh off the press is a definite highpoint in a writer’s life. Still, it’s what’s inside that book, the words that may catch a reader up into the lives of the characters and make the story come to life in his or her imagination, that’s the promise I hope I’m giving readers when they hold one of my books. It’s the same promise I want to feel when I pick up a new book to read. Movies and t.v. are nice. But books – books are magic.
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ~Stephen King
Thanks for reading. And don’t forget my giveaway just for those of you who read One Writer’s Journal. Leave a comment between now and the end of the month on a post here and your name will go into a pot for a random drawing to win an autographed copy of Words Spoken True. Each time you comment on a different post, your name goes in the drawing again so you can have multiple chances of winning.