On Becoming an Author

There are some things about becoming an author that I hadn’t given a lot of thought to. I was mostly focused on the writing and book production, then sales and marketing, to get the story out to people.

On Saturday evening, some friends threw me a wonderful book launch party here at my home obedience school, All Breed Obedience in Woodbury, Minnesota. People who I have worked with, trained dogs with, and cared for rescued dogs in Louisiana with came. Ironically, neither of the two women who organized the party has a dog at the moment!

There was a bountiful spread of fruits, veggies, cheese and crackers, wine, champagne, and a special cake. It was fun to relax, enjoy some great food, and be surrounded by such wonderful people. I tried out my new book displays and had a table spread with books. It started to feel real!

Michael of All Breed had advised me to read from the most heartfelt parts of the book. But when I tried doing this at home, I realized that it was difficult to get through reading some of the passages out loud. So I joked that I had chosen the most mundane and unemotional passages to read, that I was going to read for 2 hours, and that everyone should make themselves comfortable because once I started, nobody was leaving! Really, I chose a few passages from throughout the book and read for 30 minutes or so. It seemed to go over well and was a fun experience for me. Once or twice when I looked up, I caught the eye of someone who was crying. I was trying to hold it together to complete each passage, so I kept my eyes focused on the book.

On the cattle dog lists last week, one woman (who obviously hasn’t met me) mentioned that she thinks I’m “a goddess”. Before my head could swell up too much, I was reprimanded on another list just for mentioning the book. Apparently the book was too commercial for that list, even though $5 per books sold at the described event will be given to cattle dog rescue.

After the book launch party, a few of us went out for a drink. I mentioned that I needed to get home before long to let the dogs out. Lo and behold, I waited too long and had a bit of a mess to clean up when I got home. So, you see I have been achieving balance in my life. Whenever someone thinks to put me up on a pedestal, I end up having to clean up dog poop, or something similar. 🙂

 

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