My book has been out for just over a month, and what a month it has been. When EAB agreed to publish it, I thought maybe 15 or 20 people–mostly my close friends and family–would buy and read it, and I could check “publish book” off my bucket list and move on with my life.
In my wildest dreams, I did not expect the feedback I’ve received.
Every week since its publication, I’ve received texts or Facebook messages explaining how people have connected to my story. I’ve had conversations with people about how the book is, what Stueve called, “universal in its specificity.” From a 70 year-old widow at church to a 20 year-old former student, I am genuinely amazed that something I wrote could resonate with such a cross-section of people–men, women, Mormon, ex-Mormon, Christian, agnostic, atheist, gay, straight, old and young.
I am continually surprised and humbled at the reactions and gestures I’ve received–a good crowd at a local reading, flowers from friends, Amazon or Goodreads reviews, and even today, a month after the book’s release, colleagues presented me with a plant and a congratulations at the beginning of a district training.
I hope I do not sound boastful, as that is not my intent. I find the attention at times uncomfortable, the accolades undeserved, and I’ve spent the past month learning how to be truly gracious and grateful when receiving compliments on my work. It’s a new frontier for me that I hope I’m navigating successfully.
So today, I am grateful for readers. Thank you so much for reading my book, and thank you even more for sharing with me your stories, and the common threads that run through all our lives. We are all more connected than we realize, of this I am even more sure now than I was a month ago.
