My books arrived yesterday! I came home from a midday viewing of “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” to find a “sorry we missed you” FedEx delivery tag on the front door of my apartment. I hadn’t been expecting anything, especially the books, which weren’t due to arrive until the first week of June.
The books arrived yesterday, hot off the presses from Donnelly and Sons, delivered to my home—almost—by Federal Express.
I came home from a midday viewing of “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” (better than expected; fun and exciting; Anakin and Amidala were terrible, but I still had fun) to find a “sorry we missed you” FedEx delivery tag on the front door of my apartment. I hadn’t been expecting anything, especially the books, which weren’t due to arrive until the first week of June.
In my apartment I logged onto fedex.com and tracked the package. The contents were listed as “books (5),” and my eyes grew wide.
My books!
The excitement was almost too much to bear. “My books!” I kept yelling as I bounced around the apartment. “My books!”
I called FedEx. Their Manhattan processing center—way over on 42nd and 11th, which is inconvenient but not nearly as bad as UPS, which is up in the Bronx—was open until 9. Well! Over we go.
Two buses and one subway ride later, I found myself sitting in the FedEx waiting area, tearing open my cardboard box as I waited for the bus to take me back east. Beneath some bubble wrap lay five clean copies of “The Site Speaks for Itself,” as promised, with my name on the cover and my photo inside (twice, no less). Everything looked as promised, handsome and clean.
I flipped through the rest of the book, taking in everyone’s images and pull-quotes, reading Matt‘s bio and Molly‘s introduction on the subway ride to my girlfriend’s apartment. The moment had climaxed rather quickly; I had, after all, seen my chapter and the book cover dozens of times, and I knew what to expect. But the thrill of holding the book, of officially being a published author, still tingles through me a day later.
Amy arrived home from the airport half an hour after I got to her place. She grinned as she pointed at my name on the cover, grinned some more when she found her name in my acknowledgements.
The real fun of publishing is in sharing and showing the finished work. I can’t wait to give my parents and my brother their copies.
I’m a busy man the next few weeks, but I loved contributing to this project, and I can’t wait to write again. Bruce Lawson, expect a follow-up call in July. I’ve got another book to pitch.