Friday, May 4, 2012

It's Surreal

I've been having this surreal feeling more and more as the realization of what I've accomplished sinks in.  I've only had these feelings a few times in my life.  Once, while trying to get home from the graduate school, I called for a taxi to time me to the airport.  But the phone in my room wasn't ringing so I missed the call.  So I called back and they said they had called to confirm but got no answer.  So I hung up and about two minutes later I picked up the phone again, on a whim and the taxi company was on the line calling to confirm.  Now the phone hadn't rung I just picked up the phone.  And if I hadn't, I would've have missed my flight and very likely Thanksgiving with my family.

This is nothing like that time because it is the fulfillment of a dream.  I envisioned this moment since maybe I was 15 in high school and it turned out to be nothing like I imagined.  But after so much rejection (and I mean a lot) I figured I would never get the book published.  And yet ...

It is not often that I surprise myself.  Sometimes it happens when writing; I see something or make a connection that fits and it opens up a whole part of the story.  But in my daily life, it is far more rare.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I was surprised by what I did.  But having my book publishing has done it.

I'm sure this feeling will wear off but not for a while because I'm in a strange new world.  I've many new experiences ahead of me and I will be working with people that I barely know or who I've not met yet.  So it should be an interesting ride.

In the meantime, there are a few lessons from this whole process that I can now put into words.  But I'll save them for the next post, I think.

Keep writing, everyone.

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