My First Week as a Young Adult Published Author

On March 3rd, my young adult book, Positively Beautiful, was released into the wild. Finally, finally, the big day arrived!  This is what I've done this past week to celebrate.

March 2nd: I participated in Read Across America at Pine Island Elementary. Man, those fourth graders had some great questions! Thank you Mrs. Renz for inviting me, and fourth grade teachers Ms. Benjamin and Ms. McCormick for hosting me. And thank you, kids, for stumping me MORE THAN ONCE. I had a wonderful time! Later, I checked out the first stop of my blog tour at Jenuine Cupcakes. I gnawed my fingernails reading Goodreads advance reviews. I cheer at the great reviews, but think too much about the not-so-good ones, because, well, that's who I am.  

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March 3rd.The big day was here! First thing, I checked to make sure the book was really for sale. (Yes, a little part of me is thinking: What if it was just some monumental prank and they're going to jump out with cameras and yell "Did you REALLY think we were going to publish your book? Ha, ha, ha!" I cried when I posted that Positively Beautiful was now live and wished my baby book a happy birthday. My husband now thinks I'm crazy. I jumped over to YA Bibliophile to check out my guest post and then I worked on my candy jars to give out to bookstores. Then it was time to go find Positively Beautiful in the wild.

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Sheri at Books-a-Million #387 was enlisted in the great book hunt. The book was here, but where was it?? Sheri and I hunted high and low while my friends bought up the store. Finally, finally we captured the little sucker. Thank you Sheri, for being such a good sport. I wanted to hug her and told her so. :)

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A picture of Positively Beautiful in its natural habitat at Books-a-Million #386. Joe and staff were sweethearts. My friends and I were goofy, but of course, we always are. 

We also visited Banes and Noble at Market Square where Lynn was enthusiastic about the book and assured me that they were on their way. Yay!

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March 4th: Bookmarks arrive! A little late, but better late than never. Checked out my next blog tour stop on Book Revels where I answered the hard questions. Last, but not least, I got word that the audiobook of Positively Beautiful is now available. I began listening to it and...cried. Yes, it's been an emotional week. And yes, it's that good! The narrator,Tara Sands, does a phenomenal job with Erin's voice.

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March 5th: I check out my blog stop at Hardcover Lover, where my main character is interviewed. I love Hardcover Lover! Erin does great reviews. (And I don't just say that because she did a great review of Positively Beautiful. Really. Truly.)

Then it was off to Sanibel, where I signed at the 78th Annual Shell Festival (I do have a picture, and no, I'm not sharing it. It's another wonderfully photogenic moment for Wendy) where I met some great authors, including Cinda Williams Chima, who stopped by to say hello. (Eeep!)

Then I braved the Sanibel traffic and stopped by Macintosh Books where, well, what do we have here? This is what I saw when I walked in. What a beautiful sight! Thank you, Rebecca, and I look forward to signing at your store on March 27th.

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March 6th. Well, I don't have a picture for today. I could have shown you the loads of laundry that have piled up on my couch over the past week, or the dishes in my sink. I could have shown you a picture of me at my computer writing this post or checking out the most awesome movie poster EVER that Jenna at Bookiemoji made for Positively Beautiful. But I think we're good.

All in all, it was a great first week of promotion. And next week? I get to do it all again.