One year in the world
Happy birthday to the Yellow Birds
Yellow Birds has been out in the world for an entire year – and what a year it’s been.
It’s been transformative and exciting – and yet, the truth is, not a whole lot has actually changed in my life. That doesn’t mean my life hasn’t changed, because it has in both monumental and miniscule ways; but here we are one year later, and I’m on the same couch, in the same room, with the same dog next to me and the same computer on my lap.
I’ve been a writer all my life; I’ve never had any other professional job and Yellow Birds isn’t even my first book – but now I’m a novelist. A life-long goal, an impossible mission. A dream come true!
And I have learned some things this past year, about the industry and the landscape and about other people and about myself. A few of those things:
I have so many amazing people in my corner, and I appreciate every single one of you. Some are people I’ve known forever, and some I met through this process. You are all fantastic and I have endless gratitude for the fact that you spent even one iota of good energy on this book.
There are still days when the writing is easy, days when the writing is hard, and days when it doesn’t happen at all. “Knowing” a little about how to do it now, understanding what an editor or a publisher or a publicist or a reader might say just means I understand a bit more about how to put the pieces together. But I still gotta build the puzzle myself.
Getting your book into the world is the start of the work, not the end of it. Consider it another job for at least the next eight months. That meant that this year, I had three jobs: my full-time day job, my family, and my book. It meant homework every single night, prepping for a podcast or an interview or an appearance; it meant trying so hard to keep up the marketing machine while staying true to who I am and be authentic and and and … it’s tiring. So enjoy the wins, big or small, and eat your Wheaties.
Don’t beat yourself up over the “should haves.” Hindsight is great, but I’ve decided to take that energy and transform it to help me with the next time out. Were there some missed opportunities? Sure. Would I have done some things differently? Of course. But now I know what to anticipate a bit, and where to best spend my time and energy (and money. even when you are traditionally published, your book will cost you.).
Not everybody will “get” your book, or you. Some readers won’t like it, and some appearances won’t go well. But when a reader or a podcaster or a reviewer gets your work … it’s the best. The best.
Attention and hype will come from surprising places. With Yellow Birds, it’s like we found a particular lane, a sweet spot, and some hype followed us there; propelled us. There were a few specific organizations and sites that really loved Yellow Birds, and they were continuously good to me. There were also so many amazing, generous reviewers whose words buoyed sprits and sales and I am forever grateful.
The landscape is brutal. Kudos to all of my fellow writers for just having a book in existence, and huge kudos to those who stumbled upon the right combination of who you know/what you know/where you’re at/when you’re at to achieve a more standard definition of success. But every win is a win and they are all delicious.
Success for me may look different than it might for other writers. The biggest measure of success for me is having readers tell me they loved the book! That they felt seen or that they related to or recognized the vibe. Or maybe that they knew nothing about what being a travelling fan of a band meant, but that they were transported to the world of Yellow Birds and loved the ride anyway — how amazing is that?
Seeing Yellow Birds in libraries is success to me. Being asked by my alma mater to mentor a fellow Creative Writing student is success to me. Having my kids send me pics when they see Yellow Birds out in the world is success to me. And I like gold stars. I like people to say the writing is good. Yellow Birds was consistently praised for the writing, and that’s my fuel. I want critical success. I’d take commercial success as well, but for my first time out, I’m happy. Really happy.
Happy birthday to the Yellow Birds. Thank you for a real good time.