Publication day for The Weird Sisters is finally here!
This has been such a long time coming and there have been so many steps to the process, it’s only just starting to feel real. I can’t even begin to count my blessings. The Weird Sisters has been:
named one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month for January
named one of Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Month for January
selected as an independent bookstore IndieNext pick for February
chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, starting in February
reviewed in the New York Times
complimented in a starred review from Publishers Weekly and glowing reviews from Booklist and Library Journal
featured in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Woman’s Day
…and there’s more to come.
But most importantly, it’s been praised by early readers and book bloggers like Beth Fish Reads, The Divining Wand, Jenn’s Bookshelves, Vasilly…I can’t single out all the people who have embraced this book and found something in it they responded to.
I have to admit – I’m extremely unprepared. I have no champagne to drink out of my shoe, and no bon-bons to eat, and I completely forgot to book myself a trip to Hawaii.
In fact, I don’t have any plans at all.
So I am turning to you, dear Debutante readers. How should I spend my publication day?
Just to make it more fun, let’s say money and geography are no obstacle (but the space-time continuum is – you can’t send me out to dinner with Oscar Wilde or have me hopping back and forth across the international date line until I’m dizzy).
And there’s a prize – I’ll give away one hardcover copy and one audio copy of The Weird Sisters to commenters who suggest a great way to spend my publication day by midnight Eastern time tonight!
I say you start the day by answering a phone call from Oprah, who will say she just read the book and ADORES it, and already has a private jet waiting to whisk you away to her lovely estate in Montecito, where the two of you will sip wine and eat dark chocolate while she regales you with her favorite Weird Sisters bits. She’ll then have her team give you a full makeover so you’re ready to appear LIVE on her brand new OWN show: “Breakout Writers of 2011.” As the first guest of the show, you’ll get a bonus prize pack — one of every item ever given away on Oprah’s Favorite Things. Since I believe several vacations would be part of that prize pack, you’ll have an extended opportunity to celebrate.
However you spend the day, enjoy it!!! Your book is spectacular, you are spectacular, and I couldn’t be happier for you!!!
xo,
Elise
I love this! Except maybe she could take me to her Hawaii estate instead. We can stop in LA on the way and pick you up!
Thanks for your support – you are wonderful!
Come to RJ Julia in Madison CT – a major independent! You should pinch yourself several times and enjoy the day. Congrats.
KIM
Pinching complete! Thank you so much for your support, Kim!
Spa Day!
People with warm hands will make your muscles feel like taffy. You’ll soak in something lovely and fragrant that will make your skin soft and smooth, while your fingernails are buffed and brushed into small works of art. Your face will be gently emolliated, your scalp will be massaged, and your hair will be tamed. Your entire body will be suffused with peaceful joy.
You deserve it. Your book came out today.
Pampering is a definite bonus – thank you so much!
Congrats Eleanor!! It is your day. Treat yourself to mani/pedi. Dinner at a nice restaurant. Enjoy every moment. You deserve it.
I didn’t get there today, but I think a mani/pedi is definitely in my future. Thank you so much for your sweet words.
1. Go out to breakfast with someone (or several someones) you love. Linger. Wear dark glasses in case someone recognizes you from glam NYT photo. NO GRANOLA (unless it is your absolute favorite).
2. Bask in email messages and phone calls from family, friends, fans. You deserve it!
3. Take walk. Not on that treadmill thing of yours–outside!
4. Go out to lunch with someone or several someones. Your favorite place.
5. I’m all with the spa idea in previous comment. Massage. Facial.
6. Bask in more email messages. Drink Champagne. If you don’t drink, then buy Champagne to watch bubbles.
7. Ask loved one where they are taking you to dinner to celebrate.
The crucial thing: do not use stove today. You may set yourself on fire!!
XO, Deb
Oooh, these are most excellent. Glad to say there was no stove involved and I did get taken out to dinner!
I hope you remember all these things on your day!
Go to Disneyland! lol
Love it!
I’m with Sarah on the idea of spa day. First I think you should fly to Central Oregon though. I have a coupon. 🙂
Huge congrats on all your successes, Eleanor. They’re very, VERY well-deserved.
Tawna
Thank you so much, Tawna – I’m so glad to have your support. Here’s to a spa day in Central Oregon in our future!
All of the above are great ideas . . . but, they’re leaving out an incredibly important part of today . . . go to a bookstore (or more than one). Look for your book. Swoon. Then, gather your author wits and introduce yourself to the manager/owner/salesperson who looks most in charge. Ask, very casually, if they’d like you to sign the books they have in stock. Watch in wonder as they put a “Autographed copy” sticker on the cover of your books and place them in a very visible location. Try to hold it together (but some discreet tears are more than fine.
Repeat as necessary.
Yo are so sweet, Judy. Seeing the big display at the bookstore tonight was definitely a wonderful experience!
Congrats on all the positive feedback! It is definitely well deserved. I wish I could send you to dinner with Oscar Wilde, that’d be so cool.
So how should you spend this awesome day?
Well first I’d definitely go check out a local bookstore and get giddy when you see your book on the shelf! Maybe subtly wait and see if you can watch a stranger purchase your awesome book. Later, I’d suggest a nice dinner with your loved one and perhaps some wine to celebrate this wonderful day, and I’d definitely end the evening with a live Shakespeare play- what better way to celebrate the publication of THE WEIRD SISTERS then that?
Thank you so much, Zoe! I’ll admit, as soon as I typed ‘dinner with Oscar Wilde’, I thought, “Hmmm…”
It’s been too long since I’ve seen a Shakespeare play – that won’t happen today, but it should happen soon!
Drive to every bookstore in a 50 mile radius, upon seeing your book on the shelf, squeal “That’s My Book!”.
That is a good one!
Why does today remind me of Kristy Kiernan’s debut day back at The Deb Ball’s Season 1? Remember, Eleanor, Deb Kristy had made out a detailed timeline for doing all of her favorite things in a slow, relaxed way. And when she first saw her book, Catching Genius in a bookstore her reaction was: “Inevitable!”
And “inevitable” is what is coming to The Weird Sisters. Whatever you do today be sure to savor every moment, this day is a “keeper! ”
Standing “O!”
So funny – did she ever get her leisurely day? Today felt wonderful, but not leisurely.
You are too sweet – thank you for your support!
I second the advice to go to the bookstore, see your book on the shelf and swoon. Then: spa followed by champagne.
Congrats, Eleanor–I truly can’t wait to read your novel. 🙂
Thank you so much, Camille – I’m so grateful for your support!
I don’t know your characters — yet! — but it would be fun for me and other future readers to learn about each of them through you: If we could rewind the clock, you could spend the first 8 hours as sister number 1, the next 8 as sister number 2 and the last eight as sister number 3. You could document your “acting” with lots of fun pictures: what did you eat, drink, wear, say, do as each character? OK, that’s a lot of work. So I’ll offer another idea: Every hour on the hour, you have a delicious treat — a yummy drink or bite to eat — and you say “I did it! I did it! I did it!”
Ooh, I love both ideas! I’ll have to think of how I can work the sisters into some blog posts – they have a lot to say.
Go to a bookstore and buy your own book. Sit down somewhere with it and inscribe in the front of the book, “Dear Eleanor, THIS is what you can do.” Sign the inscription with your very best signature and take a moment to recognize this great accomplishment. Remember the moments when you wanted to throw the manuscript across the room. Remember the moments when someone critiqued and it made you frustrated. Remember the moments when the writing flowed across the page with ease and wit. Remember that you did this, you persevered, and you made this happen. Do this all with a quiet grace.
Congrats,
Amy
I love you, Amy – you are so wonderful.
I adore Amy’s suggestion! I think you have lots of good ideas here, so I just wanted to wish you a Happy Publication Day and congratulate you on your wonderful, funny, touching, energetic novel! xoxo
Thank you, Sarah! Your support means so much to me.
I think you should bask in the glory of your fans during your appearance at Tattered Cover and stand in the love you deserve. After which you should go out for drinks with said fans at The Old Blinking Light or another bar in the area and just eat up the attention. And let them pick your brain about what it’s like to write a book and actually be cool enough to get published.
Love it! Did you make it tonight – I didn’t see you, but I was a little scattered!
1. Send an e-mail to all your frenemies, the boy you had a huge crush on in high school, your high school guidance counselor and every former work colleague (blind copy of course so no one knows who’s on the list) and BRAG. Fake modesty. NY Times, Entertainment Weekly. The whole bit. Lay it on, girl!
2. E-mail your real friends and loved ones. Thank them for all their support.
3. Call your closest peeps. Schedule small, intimate celebratory dinner.
4. Print e-mail #1 and bring with you to hour long foot massage. Alternate between reading e-mail #1 and guilty pleasure book/magazine during foot massage.
5. Head directly to cupcake / dessert shop. Buy one decadent pre-dinner treat just for you. Be unapologetic about it. Tell cupcake salesperson about your book.
6. Dinner with your real peeps. Don’t forget the champagne and a candle for the dessert. Toast to your book birthday.
Seriously, congrats! Very excited for you.
You are too funny. I especially love the cupcake part – can I make that a daily ritual?
I think you should appoint one person in every town and every city across the nation to go to the bookstore, hold up your book, and shout loud enough to be overheard: “OH MY GOD, have you READ this book?! It is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. You HAVE to read it!” I do this all the time at the toy store (I make toys for a living). I can tell you from experience that it will attract one very curious old person. Sometimes two.
But, seriously, I think you should just walk around with a goofy grin on your face and soak it all in. Be with the people you love and toast yourself. You deserve it.
Maybe I can do this myself in a disguise? No one will notice Groucho glasses and a fake moustache, right?
I think you should spend your publication day away from books and getting inspired by the other aspects of your life-maybe even find some ideas for your next book! Go to the movies. Watch a crappy movie that you have memorized but love. Meet friends for margaritas! Surround yourself by the people you love and eat a lot of fatty, good tasting food. You earned it!
You are so sweet – I especially love the “crappy movies that you have memorized”….how did you know I have those?