Testimonials.

Tonight in my fledgling author class, we were told that when the book is about three-quarters finished is the time to start farming for testimonials, or statements lauding our work. After all, people like books that other people like.

I began to make a list of folks who may just write a coveted testimonial for me, all the while reminding myself that three-quarters of a book is not a book I would necessarily hand over to someone with comfort. I can release a few paragraphs now, perhaps a couple of pages, but give me a week or so, and then you may have the whole book. I followed class with a phone call to my editor, a PR exec at a Midwestern college, who assured me this would all be fine, and the novel will be ready, and I can climb down from the roof now.

Meanwhile, her mother is going through brain cancer and has chemo brain on TOP of cancer brain. We needed that venting phone call, to take care of business and status updates.

Pam has always been good at that. When she bossed around the sports section of the college paper while I was the news goddess, we did a pretty great job of tempering each other's crises, whether the Bison won or lost, or there was a flood coming, or maybe Chub's bought a full-page ad, so we were going 24 pages at the last minute and had to stay until midnight to write more stories. 

Surround yourself with people who believe in, and can put up with, your dreams.

#littlehouseontheprairie, #northdakotahistory, #historicalfiction