Novel Reactions & the Surreality Of it All

“I’m reading your book right now,” said a work colleague who I didn’t realize even knew about my first published novel. She even said it in passing, as if it was the most casual thing in the world. I smiled, and I’m still smiling thinking about the exchange. The conversation yielded the information that her husband (another work colleague) was reading my Facebook feed and saw I had a book. He alerted his wife (a voracious reader) and the rest is history. Now she’s in the process of reading it on her Kindle, and it’s pretty surreal, I must say.

“Dude, I didn’t want to know all this stuff about you,” said another work colleague who is also reading my book, but he ordered a paperback copy because he doesn’t own a Kindle or similar device. He was so excited when he got his copy in the mail that he had to scream it out on my Facebook timeline the second it arrived. In answer to his exclamation, I had to let him know that while this book may seem autobiographical, it is only so in places. It is a work of fiction. But he still seems to think that everything happened to me that is in my novel.

“Can I get an autographed copy?” a friend of mine who lives in Maryland asked me just yesterday, and I said “of course,” so I’m sending her one straightaway, but even that is surreal. Not only does she want to read my book, but she wants an autograph. See, to me an autograph means that she’s sure this isn’t just some fluke, some one-off book, that she’s sure I’ll be a hit someday and that my books might just end up being Oprah’s book club selections. That’s huge, and I am so humbled by her faith in me and in my abilities.

I have a TV appearance coming up to talk about my book, and that too is surreal. I am also in the process of setting up a book reading and a book signing, which also blows my mind. From a very early age, from the moment I started writing with an audience in mind, sometime around secondary school, I knew  I wanted to have a book that was available for people to purchase far and wide, and now that hope, that dream, is a reality. And I’m really proud of what I’ve written as well. I wouldn’t have ever published it if I didn’t think it was quality work, and that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment.

But I’m not sitting tight, secure in that. I want to make that autograph mean something, so I keep writing, and in the upcoming weeks I’m going to be giving you bits and snippets from my next book, hopefully to be published this summer. Keep an eye out. Thank you to everyone who has read my book, Detours, so far, and to everyone who has yet to read it. Let me know what you think!

Sam

Purchase Detours: A Novel from Amazon.com in paperback or eformat!

And check out the Pseudo-Excerpt too!