Friday, May 27, 2011

It makes me feel sorta funny

One of the most unexpectedly weird experiences of my writing life has been taking place this week.

On Wednesday I told you about Book Expo America and how all the coolest people in the book business are there this week.

That obviously means I'm not in attendance, but my book has been having a lovely time.

I knew Sourcebooks planned to give out a number of Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) of Making Waves at BEA, though I wasn't entirely clear if they were meant for book reviewers and booksellers or for homeless people wandering through.

Young adult author Trisha Leigh isn't any of those things, but she is a longtime Twitter pal.

I found myself unexpectedly stunned when she tweeted the following:

For those of you who don't speak Twitter, I'll translate. She used the #BEA11 hashtag to indicate she's attending BEA, and she used Twitter handles for my agent and me so we'd be sure to see what she was tweeting.

And what she was tweeting was a picture of Making Waves.

My agent tweeted back quickly to clarify, and Trisha replied with the following:

Wait, she's reading my book? RIGHT NOW? And TWEETING ABOUT IT?!

Sure enough, she confirmed how she acquired it and how she came to be reading it RIGHT THAT MOMENT.

I don't know why, but it was one of the weirdest feelings I'd ever experienced. I tweeted something to that effect, and my wonderful agent quickly shot me a message reassuring me that Trisha would love it, as would everyone else.

The thing is, my weird feelings weren't necessarily panic about Trisha or anyone else not liking the book. That's certainly a part of it, but it's mostly just an odd sensation I can't quite name.

I'm wildly ticklish. The problem with being ticklish is that you giggle like a maniac when someone does it to you. Giggling normally signifies joy and pleasure, and while that's sometimes a reaction to tickling, it usually isn't. But the tickler doesn't always know that, and keeps tickling to keep the person giggling, and pretty soon everyone's sitting there in a big puddle of pee feeling embarrassed.

That analogy just went way off the deep end, didn't it?

I guess what I'm saying is that my freakout response to having someone read my book isn't necessarily terror about whether the person will like it. It's something else entirely, but it's so unfamiliar I can't quite name it.

Nevertheless, I felt it again this morning when Trisha tweeted under the #fridayreads hashtag, a common way Twitterfolk let people know what they're reading:

Someone else in Trisha's Twitter circle responded, and I watched the exchange with that weird feeling welling up in me again:


So she likes it? Well that's good. That's great, in fact. If I ever meet Trisha in person, I want to pick her up and give her a great big hug and a smooch.

Maybe we'll even have a tickle fight.

UPDATE: OK, I wouldn't normally mess with a blog post several hours after it's already gone live, but these two new tweets from Trisha were too wonderful not to share:

And then there's this one. It might have made me cry a little:

22 comments :

Blaire Kensley said...

Dadgummit!!! I am so freaking jealous right now! Hm. *In whiniest voice ever* I want one tooooooooo. And I have no doubt it will be one of the BEST reads I'll ever have.

Anonymous said...

That's so COOL!!! Wishing you lots more tickly feelings... yeah that sounded weird. You know what I mean! LOL! Congrats!

Patrick Alan said...

I am afraid to read it now.

I never want to feel the need to say "I'm REALLY wishing I had a man right now."

Damn ALEX!!!

Kimberly Sabatini said...

That is so freaking awesome!!!! I'm tickled just reading about it!!!!! *squee* And jealous....waiting for my copy to come in the mail. *looks at Amazon and taps foot impatiently*

Leigh Royals said...

I am excited for you! That's got to be great to get that weird feeling. No, that wasn't weird to day or anything.

Kristina said...

So many kinds of awesome! :)

Danica Avet said...

Tawna, that is awesome!! I can't wait to read it myself, LOL

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhh Myyyyy Goshhhhh...this is awesome. Woot!!! I'm so glad you shared this with us. How fun.

Enjoy the journey!

Candyland said...

I can't even imagine what it's like to have actual people (as opposed to robots or unicorns) reading my book. But you have nothing to worry about. You're brilliant. Where as I fear the unicorns and robots will burn mine after reading.

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous of Trisha right now! I WANT MAKING WAVES.

sigh.

Matthew MacNish said...

I know just what you mean, or at least I can imagine. It's because every book you write is a tiny little piece of your soul, and that's a pretty private part to show to a stranger.

Sarah W said...

Oh, Tawna, how cool is that?

Bethany Elizabeth said...

That's so fantastic!! :)

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Know what's happening? Your dreams are coming true. It's gotta be weird to want something so badly for so long ... and then to see tweets that tell the world (or at least everyone who read the tweets or your post)that OMG, it's reeeeeeally happening! You're gonna do great, tickles or not.

jill said...

And we have to wait until August for it?? I want it now! Do you suppose Trisha is bribeable?

Anne R. Allen said...

What jill said!

Trisha Leigh said...

I just MIGHT be convinced to give my copy away in a blog contest, but since it's for Tawna's book I'm going to have to make everyone do something borderline inappropriate to enter. Hmm.

And you are all right to be jealous because the book is just as funny and quirky and warm-hearted as Tawna herself.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Congratulations! I had similar experiences a year ago -- right along with that totally illogical panic attack because my book was out there in people's hands. Yes, of course, we wanted to be published and we feel damn lucky to get to this point ...

But, OMG, people are reading your book. Totally terrifying! Commiserations and congratulations, Tawna! You deserve every thrill, chill, and giddy high of this ride. Enjoy it!

Gemma Sidney said...

Congratulations Tawna! You have many, many people out there who can't wait to read your book (me included). You deserve it all after all your hard work!

Anonymous said...

Yay!! Just FYI, it is also in my plans to be purchasing your book ASAP. Your blog has impressed me mightily with the quality of your wordsmithing. Can't wait to read it!

Claire Dawn said...

Congrats, Tawna! Why isn't it out yet??? ARGH!!!!

Adriana said...

I am so excited for you! I cannot wait to read your book!!! What a wonderful and terrifying thing this must be -- to have your words finally out there on their own, read by other people!