One Year Later: Reflections on Publishing, the Power of Stories, and the Journey Ahead
Twelve months ago, I realized a lifelong dream by publishing my first novel, THE ORPHAN FROM SHEPHERDS KEEP. The book continues to sell well, and readers have frequently reached out to me on my website, leaving sweet messages of support and telling me how moved they were by the story. I am now preparing an audio version of ORPHAN to be released this summer while putting the finishing touches on my newest endeavor, WITHOUT HIM, to be published at the end of this year.
Reading has been one of the great pleasures of my life. As a kid, I dreamt of skating to school as Han Brinker had and of living in a treehouse on a desert island like the Swiss Family Robinson. I was terrified by Scarlet’s brave escape from a burning Atlanta and amazed and awed by Captain Nemo. Encountering the works of Vladamir Nabokov in my early 20s was transformative, and driving through Los Angeles with Joan Didion’s characters provided a rush I had never felt before. Both TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and AS I LAY DYING showed me new ways to tell a story that inspire me to this day.
Being taken to new worlds and living life with characters wholly invented by a talented author is one of the joys of reading. In these turbulent times, who doesn’t want to be taken to another world, perhaps one ruled by reason and peopled with kind beings? I may spend the next four years living in worlds imagined by thoughtful novelists while creating my own stories to uplift the reader and remind us of the glorious possibilities that life holds, regardless of the grim picture outside our doors and in our towns.
Reading is a comfort and a privilege. It is a very solitary endeavor that can awaken you from a paralyzing stupor, inspire you to quit your job, or embolden you to ask that beautiful man across the street to marry you.
There was an Instagram series a few years back called HOT DUDES READING that showcased handsome hunks thoroughly engrossed in the pages of a book while riding the subway in New York City. Later gathered into book form, the sizzling pages fed many a fantasy for Manhattan’s subterranean crowd.
Hardbacks, paperbacks, E-books, the thin pages of graphic novels, books on tape, and books on disc all try to enlist our interest and guide us on a journey that they promise we will enjoy. Serial killers, sports stars, race car drivers, monsters of all shapes and sizes, men in tight pants and women in low-cut dresses, horse whisperers, war heroes, spies, and boys learning to fly—all these disparate characters, if skillfully drawn, can seduce us, forcing us to pay attention as we curse and cry and tremble until we finally turn out the lights and go to bed!
So, on this first anniversary, I say thank you to the readers who enjoyed their time with Eli, Ferris, Ben, and Aleksi. I promise to bring you more soon!
Lindsay
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