Shari Mauer

Galleys arrive and how George Lucas will help me through my reviews…

Currently reading: THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (adult book club selection)

My galleys for CHANGE OF HEART are here! We opened the box last night and pulled out pages that have my words all typeset and pretty. What an amazing feeling.

Pretty soon there will be ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) and with ARCs come reviews and with reviews…wow, pretty nervous-making potential there. Maybe I don’t want to know all the bad things people are going to be saying. Of course, good reviews will be welcomed and savored, but realistically, not everyone is going to love my baby like I do.

We’re big watchers of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in my house. A few weeks ago Jon had George Lucas on the show. Jon asked George how he kept his humor with fans sometimes highly critical of the Star Wars series. George said, “It’s a work of fiction. You can either like it or not like it. Whatever.” Bells went off and I thought about CHANGE OF HEART: “It’s a work of fiction. You can either like it or not like it. Whatever.”

Now let’s be realistic — it’s far easier for George Lucas to say “whatever” than little old debut author me. But it wasn’t a bad attitude. Someone remind me of this when I get my first bad review!

As to other CHANGE OF HEART news, I got another Waiting on Wednesday shout out from Shelly B of Write for a Reader. Thanks, Shelly! And I was able to see a picture of the WestSide Books booth at ALA. How exciting to see the giant cover for CHANGE OF HEART there.

The Class of 2K10 has published a list of our books arranged according to holidays, seasons, events, and themes to which they may be relevant.  We thought this list would be useful for teachers, librarians, and book clubs who want to focus on particular holidays, events, or issues. You can find that list here.  CHANGE OF HEART is listed in February for “Heart Month” and April for “Donate Life Month”.

Congrats this week to Jen Nadol, fellow Tenner and my neighbor across the Hudson River, for the release of her book THE MARK.

I think that’s all for now. Off to proof my galleys!