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| In honor of the book blast. Get it? |
You know those old nightmares you had when you were sitting
down in a classroom for a test, and it’s only when you get the paper you
realize that you’ve never taken this class before in your life? And all the
questions are written in a special alien language that everyone else in the
nightmare understands but you?
I had
that EXACT feeling when the publisher’s PR guy e-mailed me a few weeks ago and
said we were doing a book blast for “Fairy Godmothers, Inc.” Since he couldn’t
see me staring blankly at the computer screen, I asked him some carefully
phrased questions that translated to “Help! I have no idea what I’m doing!”
However, not wanting to look like an idiot, I was too subtle about it, and all
I got back was basically “You’ll be fine.”
This
was not comforting. Though I love winging it in my writing, I absolutely hate
it in any area where I’m clueless. I have no doubt I will wing myself right off
a cliff, and various people to whom I owe things will come stand at the edge of
the cliff and look down at me disapprovingly.
So,
after flailing around a bit on Google, I immediately resorted to begging. I had
found Inspired Kathy’s blog in the magical land of the Internet, and
essentially tried to beg her to take me in and save me from my problems. Though
she was incredibly busy with her own life, she was kind enough not to call the
online police and have them drag away her crazy new stalker. If I could figure
out what I was doing, she would contribute a post to my book blast.
But I
still had no idea what I was doing, so I threw myself on the mercy of the
wonderful Berk Washburn, a fellow writer at Jolly Fish (“Pitch Green” is out –
go buy it!). I threw myself on his mercy, and he saved my life by producing the
magical detailed list of instructions I’d been yearning for. Bless you, sir,
you are my super hero.
Of
course that was only the beginning. I had to then throw myself on EVERYONE’S
mercy, which is a complicated process involving lots of hopping. I posted
desperate, imprecise pleas with various Facebook groups and message boards, and
if all of you had entirely ignored me it would have been only fair.
But you
didn’t. Ella Medler, from Writers on the Storm, kindly took me aside and helped
make my blog post package presentable. Other writers from the same Facebook
group offered to contribute their Tweets the day of the event. Jolly Fish writers,
including my very own super hero Berk, did the same thing. R.K. Grow, one of my
most faithful Facebook followers, put up a post. So did Kayla S. and Jesse
Kimmel-Freeman, two amazing authors who were still willing to speak to me after
my “Fairy Godmothers, Inc.” blog tour. And that’s not including all the people
I’d never spoken to before, who still took a moment to Tweet, reTweet, or post
about my dear little book yesterday.
I’m not
one of those people to depend on the kindness of strangers, or even Internet
friends/casual acquaintances/ stalking targets. But this time I had to, and you
came together in your immense generosity and helped save a new writer in her
time of need. There will never be enough words to thank you all. The world
seems like a slightly brighter place this morning, now that I know all of you
are in it.
I know racked
up an immense amount of karmic debt yesterday. I’m super poor, so I can’t
actually shower you all with money like you deserve, but if you’re ever in need
e-mail me and I swear I’ll do what I can to help. I love you all, even those of you I've never met before, and I won't forget this.
