My Wondrous Strange Moment at Borders!

I’m going to make this short, because my copy of Wondrous Strange arrived from Amazon this afternoon, and now that the kids are asleep, I’m SO EXCITED to curl up under a blanket and read it!!

But, I did want to write about my trip to Borders this past Monday, where I encountered a real live copy of Wondrous Strange for the first time. I wasn’t expecting to see it there (It was technically the day before its release date.), but as I walked through the store with my kids and my husband, suddenly there it was, on a big wooden display rack in the middle of the store in the midst of The Chronicles of Narnia and Twilight. “Oh my God. Look!” I shouted to my husband when I saw it, who, from the excitement in my voice was looking around, expecting George Clooney or something.

It was oddly surreal, seeing this book, in the flesh (binding?!), with the same cover I’d seen up on the Novel Girls blog for months. See, as debut writers, I guess we all know our books are going to be in bookstores, but for me, anyway, I’m not sure I still quite believe it. When I saw Wondrous Strange I had this moment, where everything became real for me – here was a book, that Lesley had written thousands of miles away, in Canada, and now it was on display in front of me in Arizona, for everyone to pick up, for everyone to read. Wow! After all the revisions and rejections, the struggle of finding an agent and an editor, the elation of the sales call, and then the long publishing process filled with copy-edits and cover proofs, there is an actual book. On display. In Borders.

Of course I picked it up, and I gushed so loudly over its gorgeousness that I attracted a few stares from people in the store. And the book truly is gorgeous – I’m not just talking about the stunning matte cover with the beautiful red-haired girl and shiny embossed letters, but also the colors and the font and the very cool script page in the front. I was tempted to stand right there and read it, but I didn’t want to hold onto it too long, lest I keep it out of the hands of someone else who'd spotted its gorgeousness and wanted to buy it. (And I’d already pre-ordered mine from Amazon!) So instead, I put the book back down on the display, whipped out my cell phone and snapped a few shots of the book, realizing that if I was this excited, Lesley would be thrilled to see her baby out here in the world.

I agree completely with what Maureen said: writing is such a solitary and unique and often tough profession that the connections we make with other writers are unlike anything else. So as I eagerly await my own release like a proud and nervous parent, I am going to enjoy Lesley’s with the enthusiasm of something like a very, very excited aunt!

Happy Reading and Merry Christmas!
Jillian

PS. Don’t forget to enter our contest to win your very own signed copy of Wondrous Strange.