Want What You Have (Am I Ever Thankful!)

Am I ever thankful!

Launching a new book is always an adventure and Berserker has not let me down!

In the last month I’ve crossed the country several times, hitting big book festivals in Las Vegas, Colorado, Morristown, Miami, St. Louis and my good old hometown, New York city.

We’ve continued to get good reviews – and now readers are starting to chime in on Amazon and Goodreads which is always gratifying, even when some of them clearly come from your own family members (Thank you, Sam…).

As we draw close to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, I want to share a post with you that I ran over on Instagram on October 19th. It perfectly sums up how I feel coming into this week:

“Consolation prize for me this morning — Berserker did not make the NYT list, but I came downstairs to find that my daughter started reading Monument 14 late last night.

She has never read it because the way I describe it to people made it sound too scary. Apparently, she decided she’s ready.

How does it feel when your kid reads a book you wrote? Profoundly satisfying and heartening (especially if the kid likes said book).

Now, did I want to make the bestsellers list? Of course I did. Yes.

But I am reminded of my mom’s favorite saying: “Want what you have. Do what you can. Be who you are.”

That speaks so deeply to how I feel at this moment. I do want what I have — a loving, supportive family; a strong career doing something I love; twenty new ideas circling the airport, just waiting for room on the landing strip.

I am doing what I can – but I can do more. More volunteering, more outreach, more thoughtful writing directed at inclusion and truth-telling.

And I’m proud of Berserker because in it I am being who I am. The book is an expression of what I love in fiction, played out by characters I put my heart into.

I hope I can remember this moment and keep it ready for times when I lose my way.”

I’m glad I tacked that last sentence on there. It’s a little post-it note to my ego, saying, “Stay thankful! Keep your head on straight!” During the release of a book I can get really whacked out about numbers and sales and metrics.  It’s easy to compare myself to others — and compare the success of my book to others.

Which brings me to another wise thing my mom told me, “You can’t run looking sideways.” I can’t go where I want to go if I’m craning my neck checking out how other people are doing.

So — eyes forward, my friends. We have a lot of work to do to make our world a better place.

Wanting what we have, doing what we can, being who we are — let’s go!

I send lots of love to you,