My Grief Book's Out!!!

I went to Barnes & Noble today to see if my book, The Essential Guide to Grief and Grieving had come in yet. When the sales clerk led me to the shelf and pulled out the book and handed it to me (to my surprise) I started to cry. He thought I was grieving, and tried to escape. I said, "This is my book. I wrote it." And he practically ran away from the crazy woman. (I should add that I was dressed in workout clothes, with my hair in a ponytail, because I'd dropped by after women's fitness bootcamp.)

I found a chair and started to look through the book, then began reading. I had thought that I wouldn't read the book because I was secretly afraid of what I'd find. I'd written the book to a tight deadline of five months (although it took five and a half) and had never seen the whole thing. I turned in sections as I wrote them. Even my revisions came in chapters. Yet, I quickly became engrossed. I could recognize what I wrote, but it was still surprising. I thought, I can't believe I wrote this. It's so good. It's really going to help people! I figured dancing around the bookstore would really make me look crazy, so I settled for introducing myself to the manager and requesting that they order more books, which she agreed to do.

When I've had time today, I've read more of my book, and except for one paragraph, which I swear one of the editors must have shortened, I'm pleased with it. Oh, and the missing cover quote didn't please me. I'm sort of in awe that it's real.

I also paid attention to something I wouldn't have thought of before self-publishing--formatting. There's lots of complicated and fun formatting in the book, and I really appreciate it now.

I've created something that will hopefully help others for many years to come. That's a humbling thought.

SOLD!!!

I had a whirlwind experience and ended up selling an unwritten book within a week. It all started with an email from a writer friend, telling me that an agent she was following on Facebook was looking for an expert to write a book on grief and loss.

I sent an email to the agent, then submitted a bio and some writing samples. A week later, I received the good news. The publisher, Alpha Books, wanted me to write The Essential Guide to Grief and Grieving. The bad news--a FIVE month deadline. ACK!!!! The book will include other losses besides bereavement.

I was (and am) so excited about this opportunity. I'm also stressed to get it done (WELL) in time.

Since then, I've been frantically researching, taking notes, jotting down ideas, interviewing people, trying to organize an outline, and write some chapters. I'm talking to some wonderful people whose stories bring me to tears. I hope I can do them justice and write a book that really helps people.