Questions and Answers
16 Days to Book Launch / Signing!
People ask me if I’m excited!
They’re talking, of course, about the book signing. “Isn’t it amazing to have your book published?” they ask.
The answers, of course, are Yes and Yes. It’s amazing, exciting, humbling, surreal, joyous, and many other incredible words…. and then there’s terrifying!
Okay, maybe not terrifying, but definitely nervous! When you write a book and get it published you’ve put a great deal of yourself into that book. No matter what kind of book, what the subject is, fiction or non-fiction, the process of writing a book is intimately personal. Putting it into a binding and then out into the world is no less terrifying (okay nerve-wracking) than the first time you ask a girl to dance or go out with you.
What if no one likes the book? (She says no to the dance) What if no one shows up for the book signing? (She says no to going out). It may seem silly given that these days getting a publisher to agree to publish your book is so much harder than it ever was and therefore it stands to reason that I should be elated that someone thinks enough of my work to publish it. And I am! I just have this tiny, intsy bitsy nagging little fear of failure that is tagging along for the ride.
I’m also hard at work on another book, I’ve just put the finishing touches on two customized card decks that have art images and AM and PM questions on each one that I hope will help those who have read the book with getting the habit of questions to be a part of their lives. I’m halfway through the first intensive month with my test group for the ASK CirQle Program. A 12 month program which I’ve created in the hopes that it will help people integrate the principles from the book into their lives and not forget them once they’ve finished the book.
All of this is good news right? Yes, and I’ve also got to find someone to manufacture the cards at a price I can afford, I have to create an entire eCommerce part of my website to handle the ASK CirQle Program that needs a great deal more than a simple shopping cart, oh and did I mention I have to shoot and edit a years worth of videos to go with the program?
Right, so it might be my own fault that I’m more than a bit nervous going into this book signing seeing as I have so much going on and so very little time to get it all done.
Which is where the questions come in. Yes, I do actually take my own advice and yes it does work. I just wanted you to know that I’m not immune to fear or doubt or moments of hesitation (typically right before I leap off the edge screaming like my 7 year old self riding his first ever roller coaster in the pitch black).
So, to answer the questions.
Yes, it is unbelievably exciting and amazing and satisfying to have my book published and in print. And yes, I am incredibly excited for my first (of many I hope) book signings. I can’t wait to meet whomever shows up and get to talk to them for a bit and hopefully create some new friends.
And about all that other stuff I mentioned above?…… I wouldn’t change it for anything. This is what makes the ride worthwhile, it’s what puts the adventure in my journey, and what makes crossing the finish line so very much worth it.
I hope you’ll come along with me to see how it all turns out. 16 days…. Gulp!
Andrea Susan Valentine Gelfuso Goetz is the author of “My Modena – A Year of Fear, Laughter and Exhilaration in Italy“.
After her husband was given a job for a year in Italy, Andrea and the rest of their family joined him on the adventure; and what an adventure it was.
Often trying to do the simplest of things, her story captures the hilarity of an American in Italy trying to navigate a country that seems as foreign as should be familiar. She spent a year in Italy in an apartment that was like camping, with tile, in a town full of ancient churches, like God’s attic. Come meet Melanie, a fashionista who can make ATMs bend to her will from a hundred miles away. Her landlady Giovanna, who taught her to make risotto as golden as her smile, and her husband, Raimondo, who stood by serenely as six firefighters tried to get Andrea and her family back into their 7th floor apartment – using a ladder truck. Meet Piero, the artist who told her Modena’s most beautiful secrets, and Luca, who sold her boots so fabulous she re-soled them three times. Meet Danilo, Fabio, and Marcello, heart-stoppingly gorgeous Italians. And a mime who knew a lot more than he was saying.
NOW AVAILABLE
My Modena
A Year of Fear, Laughter, and Exhilaration in Italy
