Good thing I don't write my own headlines, because who would want to read a piece called "Trade Show Musings"? But whatever.
I'm glad I went to the Denver show for all kinds of reasons, one of which is that I had a really nice time with Anne and Jenny from TKE. And Shannon Hale was beyond entertaining at the literacy banquet. Thanks for that, you guys!
Here's another reason I'm happy I went. I had a chance to readjust my perspective. See, writing is a really solitary experience. You're alone a lot. And when you're alone a lot you start thinking you're the center of the universe (a little) and therefore (you start thinking) it's just not FAIR that your manuscript WHICH IS YOUR BABY isn't getting published or that your book isn't getting all kinds of crazy attention.
However when you go to a booksellers' trade show, what you realize is that there are a LOT of books out there. Tables and tables and tables and miles and tables of them. Not only that, but they're all fall books. Most of them will have been sent back to the publisher by spring to be replaced by more tables and tables and tables and miles and tables.
Does this depress you? Curiously, it has the opposite effect on me. What it makes me realize is that a lot of us have the same dream, a lot of us are working hard, a lot of us are good at what we do. We're in it together. Not getting noticed all the time does not equate with sucking.
Don't you feel better now? Because I do.
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3 comments:
This reminds me of President Uchtdorf's talk....we all matter....even when it doesn't seem that way.
Yes, yes, and, by the way, yes. There is a certain amount of overlap, of course, in the Venn diagram illustrating the sets of Unpublished and Sucky. I would like to have been the best at SOMETHING, you know? Best Fly Swatter. Best Maker of Popcorn (I'm really close on this one). But you're right. We're in it together. Some at the top, by hook or by crook or by talent, and some in the third tier of the fifth level of poets. Write on, sister.
All those people who wanted to be writers get to have their dreams come true. It's quite friendly.
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