I am delighted to welcome Ms. Joy Preble, author of Dreaming Anastasia:A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams, to my blog today.
Now that I’m about to have a book published (Full disclosure, as I type this, the Amazon folks have already begun shipping some pre-orders, although not obviously to me, the author, just to other people I know, who keep texting me about and tweeting about it and in general making me both excited and a tad cranky that the Amazon shippers did not consider me a higher priority than say, my former English department chair), people feel compelled to ask me how I feel. “Are you excited?” they ask. Well, yes. “Do you hope it will sell a lot of copies?” someone actually asked me last night. I had no idea what to think about that one, although it was asked by the same person who said to my husband, “Do you think you’ll gain back all that weight you just lost?” So I figure that although we both just smiled and moved on with our lives, the best response should have been, “No. I really hope it tanks. And tonight when we get home, I’m going to force feed Rick Twinkies while he’s sleeping, like how they make geese overeat so they can use their fatty livers for more delicious foie gras or whatever. And then when he can’t fit into his new khakis from Banana Republic anymore, he’ll wander the streets with a sack of my books.”
But in any case, I know that it’s all meant well. Really. Just that sometimes it comes across the same way those questions come across on the news. You know what I mean. Like when some poor man’s relative has been maimed or his dog has been hit by a semi or some other really horrible event and a reporter shoves a microphone in his face and asks, “How does this make you feel right now?” And I keep waiting for someone to say, “Well, really really sad and crappy and overwhelmed and generally pissed that you’re asking, thank you.”
So I thought I might treat your readers to a little bit of what I really want the world to know right now. You can fill in the questions on your own. I will provide the stunningly amusing and fascinating answers!
This is the most excited I’ve been about anything, and I think that may include the birth of my son, which really makes me sound like a bad mother, but honestly, this is up there next to that. In fact, the gestation period of a debut novel is typically longer than the average pregnancy. In my case, the journey’s been about five years, from when I wrote the novel to when I finished it, got an agent, revised, sold the book, and waited and ultimately revised some more during the two years between that point and September 1st when Dreaming Anastasia officially releases. (see above Amazon anecdote)
I’ve learned patience and humility and that real writing is in the revisions. I’ve learned that success comes from a mysterious mixture of talent, hard work and luck, the proportions of which might differ from writer to writer, but are there in some combination. I am profoundly grateful beyond the telling to everyone who’s been a part of this process. It is rare that one truly gets to follow one’s dream, and I am conscious of that every second of every day. (Okay I’m also conscious that talking about myself so much begins to feel a tad self-absorbed and that bad things probably happen to girls who Google themselves until they get carpal tunnel syndrome, but I’m trying to cut back. Really)
Yes, this is my very first novel. But I’ve been writing since I was about seven. Maybe before that. Possibly I wrote in the womb. I’m just that gifted. Okay, I’m not. But I’ve always loved to write and the idea that someone is now paying me to do so is shockingly fun! I recently commented in my blog that I stood in line at ALA in Chicago to get Laurie Halse Anderson’s autograph and when she asked what I did and I told her I was a debut author, she wrote in my book, “Welcome to the tribe,” and that I walked away all teary-eyed with fan girl joy. Because I love the written word and all that it involves and getting to be around other people who do – writers, readers, reviewers, librarians, teachers, random breathing mammals who’ve ever picked up a book – and also creating stories of my own for them is immensely gratifying.
To me, Dreaming Anastasia is many things. It’s about love and loss and the possibility of second chances. It’s about strong female characters doing their best under dramatic circumstances. It’s about a guy who thought he knew what he was doing, but has come to realize that maybe, well, not so much. There’s magic and alternate history and a really scary Russian folklore witch. A lot of romantic longing. A fair amount of blood, both literal and symbolic. And certainly, as the title indicates, it’s about dreams – the ones we hope for as well as the ones that haunt us. I hope that people enjoy my fictional Anastasia, as well as Anne and Ethan. Anne’s friend Tess kicks some butt, too, so look for her as well.
If you want to write, prepare to work the hardest you ever have in your life (at least that was the case for me). This will possibly be one of the most competitive fields you’ve ever encountered. But you will be the better for it. You will meet amazing and generous people. You will learn to have thick skin about criticism and rejection. When an editor or agent begins a letter with “In the spirit of a fresh start” you will come to understand that you are getting a once in a life time opportunity even if it means changing a lot of what is already on the page. You will come to see that your work is better for it. And so are you. Because that really is part of the journey. We write our stories and we learn a little more about ourselves and what it means to be human. I mean seriously, how cool is that?
Thank you, Joy, for that delightful post! Ms. Preble is on blog tour around the book blog community this month. Come back Monday of my review of Dreaming Anastasia.
October 3, 2009
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Posted by Heather
Categories: Books, Reading Challenges
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Tags: dystopian, reading challenge, YA Lit, young adult, young adult literature
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