This is it, an author’s Christmas. Signing copies of books for a giveaway. Such an honor. Such a thrill.
Where an author fits in changing times
As an author, my job is to fully inhabit the point of view I write. Whether that person is protagonist or villain, male or female, a doctor or a thief, a black man or a white woman. We can never know what it is to truly live someone else’s life. But we have to try. If we don’t, who will?
White Out in its natural habitat
It’s a strange thing to have a cold, snowy thriller coming out in July, but my husband and I took the earliest copies to Yellowstone National Park (which is as majestic in the winter as it is in the summer). Here, we took a long cross country ski and stopped to take pictures of White Out. Beautiful, isn’t she? Oh, yeah, Yellowstone, too. ;)
Circling him while he reads
I’ve been married to this guy for almost 26 years and I trust him implicitly. He’s quite literally my favorite person on earth (children not included).
So, why, when my book is done and ready to go to the world, do I still feel terror when he picks it up? Well, maybe that’s obvious. His opinion means the most. But I also know he would tell me he loved it even if it were god-awful. Because he loves me. Nonetheless, whenever he is reading, I circle him like a vulture, awaiting any little sound or expression that might give me a clue about what he’s thinking.
It was that way with my very first (never to be published) novel and I suspect it will be that way to the last.