A moment among moments...

About a year ago October, after years (and years) of trying, as most of you know (ad nauseam) I got my first book deal - for my YA novel, The Pull of Gravity.

Since that moment, there have been several moments, that have been surreal, exciting, wonderful: the look on my boys' faces when I told them I had finally succeeded; the moment I called my husband (my sister, my parents) to tell the good news. The first time I sat in the small, sleepy office of my editor, the incredible Frances Foster (Holes (Sachar), Someday this Pain Will Be Useful to You (Cameron) The Wall (Sis)) in the flatiron building in NYC and listened to her gush on about the characters in my novel.

The moment I opened a check from Macmillan in the mail. :)

But the truth is, there is one moment above all others that truly stands out in my mind: December 4, 2009, when some of my best friends I've known "forever," came togther with some of my best friends I'd never, until that very moment, even met (and who had travelled across the space-time continuum to be here -- okay, at least from as far away as Virginia, Seattle, New Mexico and, you heard me: Scotland) to celebrate my small moment of success with me.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime night that I'll truly never forget, and I hope in some way to return the love and support shown me to each and everyone of them. Even those who could only be there in spirit (you know who you are).

In the meantime, here is a tiny glimpse into one captured moment of it. A toast by my dear friend John Aragon, writer -- and human being -- extraordinaire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWeBJjB_B5o

Happy Monday. I hope each of you has the chance to share at least one evening like this one.

-gae

On acknowledgements

Boy, I wonder if Hillary Clinton knew what a buzz phrase she'd create when she first commented, "It takes a village?"

Of course, the original saying comes from the title of her book, which itself came from an African proverb.
But, IMHO, the statement also fits the act of writing a good book. Or, at least, a good book that sells.

As I find myself getting closer to the time I'll have to write acknowledgements for The Pull of Gravity, I find myself faced with an ever-growing list of the people who have helped me over the years. From early readers of OTHER manuscripts who encouraged me to keep writing, to early readers of this manuscript who helped me hone this particular story; from family members who believed in me, to my husband who went out every day to earn our main living so that I could sit home and write a majority of the time; from my kids who inspire me every day, to other people's kids who helped me with bits of information to make the voice more authentic or the title sing; from my first agent who may have ultimately failed me in some regards, and did not sell the book for me, but in other regards succeeded in ways that can never be forgotten, like believing in me enough to want to take me on and try to sell my writing (putting in endless hours without up-front pay trying her best to help me to make my stories more marketable); to my current agent, who takes late night phone calls, weekend emails, and who, in a short time, has taught me so much about how to write a better, more satisfying book. And, to my editor, who will be an integral part of making my book whatever good it is.

So, back to those pesky acknowledgements. Do you list everyone and pray you don't leave somebody out, or do you make a blanket statement and hope that those who you appreciate know it; and that you know it takes a village?