Nora Roberts sells 21 books every minute. When you go to her
website, you'll find all of her titles are available in an Excel
spreadsheet. 160 of her books have been New York Times bestsellers.
After all these years and all these books, I wonder if she still feels
a sense of excitement and adventure on the day each new novel is listed
on Amazon. On each book's official release date, does she sit back in
an easy chair, smile and enjoy the experience?
My second novel, "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire," was
listed there yesterday. Exhausted from non-stop proofreading, I didn't
notice the listing until late in the evening and the book's description
hadn't appeared yet. It's there now and yes, it does make me
smile--partly because it's there, partly because my Jock Stewart
character is so off the wall, I can't help but be amused at the antics
he gets away with while following truth, journalism and the evil-doers
who stole the mayor's racehorse and killed his publisher's girl friend.
Writing is an adventure that unfolds in the quiet of an author's
den. My den's a mess and I have no clue where anything is. I'm the
hermit of a room lined with books, some by Ms. Roberts and dozens of
other authors whose work has also contributed to my on-going education.
It's nice, though, to step outside the solitude once in a while and see
what's going on in the world past my horizon of books. Seeing one's
book listed on Amazon is a perfect excuse.
I have a smile on my face today.
When you read the book, I hope you will, too.