LeezaCon Can't Be Far Away...

On Saturday it was a year since Leeza McAuliffe Has Something To Say was published. It's flown by and it's dragged. It depends on my mood as to whether I feel like it's ages ago or if I'm still caught up in the frenzy.

Happy birthday to this gal!

One of the things I've learnt since getting my books out there, is how far apart the peaks and troughs really are. The ebbs and flows. The highs and lows. Back in the day, I think I assumed that if someone had written a book, then that book would be sold at an even rate throughout the year. For well known people, writing much-loved stories, that might be several hundred a day. For less known, less established writers, that might be one or two a day. Either way, I assumed there was a consistency to the sales rate.

Obviously, that's rubbish. Course it is. The frenzied thrill of sales graphs, climbing numbers and money to be made, takes place on publication week. That's when it all happens. I think this is as true for the big names as it is for the wannabes like me. Amazon charts, Times best seller lists, algorithms taking notice? All that get sparked off on the week the book hits the world. It might carry on for some weeks after that, if the author is a Legend. But a year on, it's going to have calmed down to a silence - especially if the author is only a legend with a small L, like me. That's why all the writing advice directs you to write another, then another, and then another. 

So Leeza died down a while ago. I get the odd sale here and there but it's mostly calm. It's part of the trough. The ebb. The low. Sometimes it's hard to remember the feeling of the peaks, flows, and highs, even though this time last year I was full of them. The past year has still contained good bits, though. Even after publication week was over and the year cracked on, there have been occasional highlights now and then. 

Emails from readers have been particularly lovely. Hearing that the characters of the story have both entertained and helped people feel differently about their own situations, has been immense. It's hard to top that. And then, in local news, getting the book into libraries was also a peak. Just a few nearby ones, but still. Seeing it on shelves, and seeing it's been booked out when I check online (yeah, I do that) is a real buzz. And then there was World Book Day. Last Thursday my teacher-mate messaged me in the morning. Like many in the country, her school were dressing up as their favourite book characters that day. She sent me pictures of a girl in her class who had come dressed as...wait for it... Leeza!* Yeah, for realsies!

**I think it's hilarious anyway.

Fun fact: This entire extract is
based on a real life incident involving
 two of my sisters and my dad.

I'm not going to lie. It was the single best thing that has happened in months. Writing Book Three is an ongoing slog. There aren't many highs right now. Seeing pictures of someone that had not only chosen an outfit that Leeza would wear, but who'd made props to establish her character? Well it was fabulous. I particular loved the Egyptian project she carried with her. In the story, there's a hilarious** family anecdote about pyramids that prompts Leeza to dig out her Egypt work from the previous year. The fact that this girl had brought a picture of Tutankhamun, the Pyramids and the Sphinx with her, is the best thing I've ever seen. She also included a completed Enid Blyton book review. (She had written a book review as part of her costume because Leeza writes a book review about that particular book in the story.) It was meta and clever and brilliant. I was overwhelmed all day. 

Last Thursday was definitely a peak. A high. A flow. It reminded me that even when it feels there's lots of monotony, it won't always be the case. Something will happen, something unexpected, to remind me that I'm not wasting my time. Last week's Ramble was one long rant about the editing process of which there seems no end. But then on Thursday, because of one reader, I was walking on air all day. As Ferris Bueller once said, 'Life moves pretty fast.' He was not wrong.

Have a lovely week, folks.

*My Twitter timeline has retweeted pics!