Happy Book Birthday!

Happy Book Birthday.

The first time I heard that phrase a few years ago, I had NO idea what it meant. Then I learned it referrs to the day a debut author has been awaiting ... for AT LEAST 18 to 24 months. That's the typical time between selling a manuscript and seeing it on a bookshelf ready to buy. When I tell friends that Courtney's book sold, they want to run out tomorrow and buy it. And they act as if there's something not quite right when I say how long it takes. And that doesn't even count the length of time it takes an author to write a book, query agents and find the right one, and then go on submission to rounds of publishers. Rejections, disappointments, revisions. A lot of them at times. These go hand in hand with the talent, skill and sheer determination it takes to become a successful author. Publishing a book is a long and involved process. It doesn't happen very quickly. Ever.

Mounds of work take place in that period of time between selling and then getting the finished copy of the book. Revisions from the editor to deal with. More revisions. Cover art details. Copy editors, proof readers, checkers ... lots of people are involved in making certain the book format is just right. It goes to press - also not a simple process - and I haven't mentioned delays ... always delays. And marketing. The publisher may decide to hold off on putting the book on the shelf; this may be due to  TIMING the market, which is always a concern. Publishers WANT the book to sell, so they evaluate when the book will sell best, what the competition is from other publishers, and even how many marketing dollars they need to spend. ARCs - the book in its simplest form - are sent to early readers who will review the book. The intention is to drum up enthusiasm before the actual release of the book. And so on. Meanwhile, the author may be writing another book, scheduling signings or blog tours, and dealing with marketing issues. And hopefully, receiving good new from the Foreign Rights department. It's a L.O.N.G. process, as I said.

But finally ... FINALLY, there comes a day when the publisher releases your book (i.e., your BABY) to the waiting public. That day is your book's BIRTHday! It has been a "labor of love," but make no mistake, labor is involved!

So you throw a party! You invite your friends - who tell their friends - and your family (it is required for FAMILY to show up in droves!). You use Facebook and Twitter and newspaper releases to get the word out. If you're very blessed, a huge number of fans show up to pack the venue, to buy your book and stand in long (LONG) lines so that you can sign it for them! If you're very, very blessed, everything works out even better than you dreamed it might!

I believe that's what happened last night at the launch party for Sharon Cameron's debut novel THE DARK UNWINDING (Scholastic). It was held at Parnassus Books in Green Hills, a suburb of Nashville, and it was MAGIC. The parking lot was full, the bookstore was packed, and the atmosphere was ... bookish! And Amazing! It was a thrill for Ron and me to find ourselves in the company of so many writers, a great circle of friends, and Sharon's family. Before the end of the night, the bookstore sold out of all the books Scholastic sent for the launch party! A total success. A best seller in the making! (I believe).

And then ... it hit me.
The booksellers spoke to Courtney, "You'll have your book launch here, too ... won't you?"

Oh. OH. Courtney will have a BOOK LAUNCH one day ... my baby is an author. An AUTHOR. It is surreal ... though I knew in my heart from the very beginning that one day it would happen for her. I had no idea when, but I always believed that some day there would be a book/s with Courtney C. Stevens' name on the spine. That her dream of becoming a writer would "come true." Trite words ... dream come true ... but SO SO descriptive of the way her success feels.

I was so excited for Sharon last night. And so excited for Courtney ... thinking that one day this would happen for her; she will be the one basking in the admiration and love of some big crowd of people who stand in a long line to buy her book. Her book!

How that makes me feel? I just don't have the words.

But I am very thankful.

The Night Sky

Every other month I visit my home town in Tennessee and spend a week with my mom. We do Gurl Stuff, shopping and reading and talking ... alot. We sit on the front porch in the swing and talk to neighbors; we go to church, the one I grew up attending, and out to eat with friends. And we get things done in and around the house, taking care of errands that Mom finds more difficult at age 90. It's a sweet time together for us.

During this visit, in the early morning hours of August 12, 2012, we did something else together. Something new and unexpected. At least, for the two of us.

Every August - for a couple days - if the night is a clear one, we earthlings get to enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower. This year the optimum viewing area included Tennessee and Kentucky.

During supper, I told Mom I planned to go out at some point after midnight to see if I could see any of the promised 100 per hour streaks across the sky.  Initially concerned that the town streetlights would hamper my view, I checked at ten o'clock and decided there would be enough dark sky to make a middle-of-the-night wake-up call worthwhile.

I woke up sans alarm clock at three a.m. and tip-toed to the back door so I wouldn't wake Mom. Imagine my surprise and thrill when she appeared in the kitchen behind me, wide-awake and prepared to go with me. A good thing ... because the locks on the kitchen doors are not quiet!

On the patio, we craned our necks and trained our eyes on the night sky and counted the "shooting stars."

"There's one! Another one over here! That one wasn't as bright ... but there's one!"

Long before I was ready to stop - but in the absence of lounge chairs my neck was killing me   - we headed back to bed.  Truly a magnificent experience. Of course, we hardly saw 50 in the half hour we watched the stars, but there were enough to compare to other more usual night skies when we have not seen even one.

A friend in KY was outside at the same time Mom and I were. How did I know? Because she and I tweeted back and forth as we both enjoyed the meteor shower ... many miles a part. It made me think about distance and connections. Distance on earth and distance in space; a connection with my mom on the patio and with a friend from back home. And technology, the way it connects us in ways unheard of just a few short years ago.

We live on an awesome planet. We live in an amazing age.

And I am thankful.

Random thoughts about Space

If you thought this post was about organizing my space or your space or even your spouse's space ... NOT. (Although a friend recently related Joel Stein's (Time Magazine) definition of clutter: A man's clutter reveals his true self. A woman's clutter reveals ... shoes. I can go with that!)

BUT I meant Space. SPACE. As in deep space. The kind with stars and constellations and galaxies.

Last night at 12:15 A.M. - technically that would be August 6, 2012, in the Central Time Zone - an Event happened ( 8-5-12 in CA where the lab is). History happened. And millions of people - along with the scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab - watched it happen. Facebook, CNN, Twitter, NASA TV on our cable channels, our satellite dishes, our laptops, desktops and iPads marked the event. And I stayed up late to be a part of it.

NASA's CURIOSITY. spacecraft the size of a car, landed on Mars after an 8 1/2 months journey through space.

The landing was hyped aplenty, appropriately billed as "Seven Minutes of Terror" in a YouTube video that quickly went viral. The seven minutes refers to the time it will take Curiosity to enter Mars' atmosphere and slow to a stop from a whopping 13,000 mph in order to make a bull's eye landing within the massive Gall Crator near its equator. It was considered nerve-racking because it tests a new landing routine. Steering itself part of the way and slowed by parachutes, it will dangle by cables until its six wheels touch the ground. NASA will monitor it by the 'heart sounds' it sends out and judge its success by the pictures/data it should immediately begin sending.

In the past, only six of fourteen attemps by space agencies around the world have managed to touch down successfully. (NASA has done well, failing with only one of its seven tries).

AND IT WORKED perfectly last night. I stayed up to watch it happen: streaming NASA TV live on my laptop, eyeing CNN on TV and Twitter on my iPhone.

It was exciting. EXCITING. Twitterville was awake and monitoring Curiosity's progress. Minute by minute the men in the Lab reported hearing healthy 'heart sounds.'  (Sounded as if a baby was being born. I'm sure it felt that way to them). I felt the tension almost as if I was watching Apollo Thirteen's Jim Lovell (Gary Sinise) or NASA's Gene Kranz (Ed Harris). I actually do remember when the aborted moon landing happened and the tension that gripped the nation at the time. And I revisited it when the "Apollo Thirteen" movie came out. Yes, I know there was no human life at risk with this Mars landing of Curiosity. But still ... the future of our country's space program may well hang on the success of Curiosity. The tension was alive and well inside NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.  And so was the excitement - the tears, the hugs and high fives - when Curiosity did its thing so well! And History was made.

Will Curiosity's success  have a positive effect on the endurance of America's space program?

I find myself hoping so!

The Olympic Spirit - July 2012

In 2001, before the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Courtney became an Olympic torchbearer. She ran her "leg" on the streets of West Memphis, Arkansas, and it was a very special day for our family. Chevrolet sponsored the Torch Relay, so afterward the local dealership (owned by extended family) framed the newspaper account with her official torch picture to display in their showroom, along with a shadow box that held her torch. Eventually the dealership closed and Courtney acquired her torch. It is now displayed along with other sports memorabilia in her home's sports-themed pool room: a visible reminder of her personal connection with the Games.

I could hardly wait for the Summer Olympics to begin this summer of 2012. Though I love the summer sports best, the Olympic spirit is really what draws me, whether in the summer or winter games. I remember our thrills when our children played varsity sports in high school and college, and how my emotions swelled and practically burst out of me in moments of excitement. Multiply that uber-feeling times a million, and that's how the Olympics affect me. For two weeks every two years, I stay emotionally involved, ready to tear up at a moment's notice, just heart-filled with joy and sadness over the triumphs and failures of the mostly very young athletes. Patriotic pride (love of country) builds, and with it, empathy for the stories of other countries and their athletes.

I cry when I hear "Chariots of Fire" or the booming music of the Olympic theme song. I cry when an American stands atop the medal stand watching the Star-Spangled Banner slowly rise between two foreign flags. I cry when the underdog rises above himself and accomplishes far more than the expectations of coaches and audience and TV announcers, and when the favorite excels. I love the Olympics and the feelings it brings me. I love the way it unites our country in patriotism and common purpose.

And I love the stories. One of the TV announcers said, " ... the lasting impressions of the Olympics are not only of those who stand on top of the medal stands." The Olympic Games are not just about USA Dream Teams, or Michael Phelps breaking medal count records or even the beautiful girls who win gold in gymnastics and swimming. They touch my heart, but so do the unknowns - the one athlete from a tiny country who has no hope of any medal but is THERE anyway; the first time an athlete from a particular country wins in a particular event; the first medal a country has ever won; or stories about the way an athlete and his family sacrifice, how they endure hardship and injuries, yet triumph through the pain. These stories of accomplishment and success touch me: the beautiful back-stories of endurance and sacrifice just to get there. The athletes embody the Olympic spirit - they are "swifter, higher and stronger," yet they compete with sportsmanship and good will and inspirational respect for each other.

THEY inspire respect.

That's why I love it. That's why I watch obscure Olympic sports every two years that I'd never otherwise care about. And every two years - winter or summer - the sports world in all kinds of venues (as well as those uninvolved in the sports world) sits up and takes notice. And THEN it's not just about fame or fortune or simply the glory of winning ... it is much more and more powerful than that. It is the Olympic spirit!

It IS the Olympic Spirit! And the rest of us are mightily blessed.