First book sold! One down, 1999 to go.
All books start their life somewhere, after that date of publication, with a single book sold to an interested reader.
I’m touched that a high school English teacher purchased the first copy of How to Make a Life from me – wondering if it would be appropriate for her class to read to learn about other cultures.
This was that moment when my personal dream to write about a major episode in my life intersected with a real person wanting to read something about that sort of thing!
When I wrote, I was speaking, at first, to friends, hoping to share stories, invisible to many of my friends, of the rich life I was leading, becoming involved over several years with a family who had immigrated to the U.S. from Tibet.
But a book begins one day to live its own life, to seek out readers beyond friends and family.
Who else is out there? Who else might connect with this story? A book is a curious drug, a magical device that carries and connects a writer’s intimate experiences and inner thoughts to …. whom?
To you?
In any event, it was a privilege to meet my first “previously unknown to me” reader. And to see my book on its journey to other minds.