Well, isn’t this fun
Book Launch
Launching a book in the middle of social distancing/lock downs/quarantines is not a new thing I would have tried voluntarily. Nor is it a new thing I ever want to try again. But it’s not a choice. In November 2019 when I set publication dates, there was no way I could have had a clue a pandemic was coming. But I committed then to releasing the entire Talisman Series in 2020. Either a preorder or a straight-up release will fall on the twentieth day of the month from January to September. The free-lancers I employ are counting on me to do my job so they can be paid. I can’t let them down. I also have a responsibility to the readers who are expecting me to deliver the next book when I said I would. Now more than ever, keeping my word feels especially important, a life-buoy constant in a sea of uncertainty.
Staying Positive
Today, I took my son’s dog for a walk along the lake near where we live. A fly-fisherman patiently cast for a hungry trout. On the road running along the canal above the lake, people rode their horses. Each of us engaged in normal, Saturday morning pursuits in Northwest Wyoming. The sun warmed like spring even as the breeze carried the last breaths of winter. Exercising and enjoying the fresh air creates respite from circumstances we can’t control. Getting lost in a book creates a similar kind of respite. When I remind myself about that, I gain perspective. Launching Warrior in the middle of a pandemic is not ideal. But it does offer me an opportunity to help others to tune out the news, tune out the worry.
Keep Calm and Do What You Do
March 20, 2020, Warrior launched. On the one hand, it seems a bit obscene to send out a new book and encourage people to buy it when the world is unsettled and scary. On the other hand, books are inexpensive entertainment and comfort during trying times. Giving readers a new story experience to take their minds off the news and the fear for an hour or two seems appropriate. Truly, I struggled with launching this book even though it wasn’t a thing I could stop. The wheels for it were set in motion beyond my control when I put the series into the system back in November. Still, when I drive Main Street in my little town and see nearly every parking space vacant, closed signs in the storefronts, I can’t help but worry for all of us. Then I think—wait. Sending that book out into the world is a gesture of trust. Trust that we’re going to help each other weather this storm together. Trust that we’re going to come out on the other side stronger, smarter, and better prepared than we were before. The characters in my stories face life-or-death uncertainties too. Perhaps losing themselves in my books can buoy the spirits of the people who read them.
What are you doing today to take care of yourself? How are you reaching out to others? Let me know in the comments.
Yours in taking a risk (or thirty),
Tam DeRudder Jackson