My Proudest Moment in Publishing Thus Far (Oh... and It's Football Season)

And here we are again... I should be reviewing a manuscript for a meeting I have with the publisher and a prospective author tomorrow, and instead I'm watching X Factor... but only because I'm too scared to hook up our new cable box. I don't want to screw up the cables, etc., so I'm just going to let it sit here until tomorrow night, when I scramble to put it together in time to watch the game.

The game... the game... the game...

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE. I won't bore you with the details, but I have two fantasy leagues going and though I don't think either of my teams are as strong as last year's, I'm still pretty pleased despite my last place standings in my non-work league. Best time of the year, hands down. Especially since Matt and I will be at the next Cowboys/Giants match up! Couldn't be happier about that.

I also couldn't be happier with some facets of work right now—one book in particular has me beaming with pride nearly every day. If you're my FB friend, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Ilana Garon's "Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens?": Teaching Lessons from the Bronx is exceeding all of my expectations. I mean, I knew it was a good book, otherwise I wouldn't have acquired it, but it's getting a lot of attention, and that's great. She's been featured in magazines, in the local paper, on an international website, and on a bunch of blogs and sites. And Kirkus even named the book one of the most anticipated debuts of the fall. And then Huff Post reposted it—which is, again, awesome. Though I managed to get lost in the Bronx last night on the way to her reading, it seemed like, for a second time, she had a great turnout. And there are more events to come!

Though sales of the book is important, I think my proudest moment came last night, when I saw what one of her former students posted after they attended her reading at B&N and purchased a copy of the book:

This is my dream come true—working on a book that's so good, it makes a non-reader not only want to buy it, but read it front to back... and enjoy it and want to talk about it and let people know what they think about it. It's cool that he came to the reading, it's great that he bought the book, and I love that he's reading it, but the fact that he liked it so much and is so proud of his reading that he went out of his way to share it with others online... that's what really struck me. He could've just bought a copy, got it signed, and put it on a shelf. But it sounds like he actually read it—and he wants people to know.

I enthusiastically texted Matt as soon as I saw this last night, and I took a screencap on my phone that I printed out at work today and hung in my cube. I know I'm still new to the industry, and I do hope there are more moments like this to come, but I'll remember this post for a while.

Other than work stuffs (busy, busy, busy), I'm just trying to get back into the running. The 5K is three weeks this Saturday and because I was a lazy ass (and busy bee) in August, I wasn't running as often as I should and now I'm back down to just under 2.5 miles, with a break to catch my breath after the first 1.5. I know I can get to 3.2 again, and more, but it's been rough getting back into it. I actually almost started crying two Sundays ago when I realized I needed to stop after a mile. It's just... disappointing. Because I know what I was able to do a few weeks ago. And I know what I need to be able to do a few weeks from now.

So with that thought in mind, and now that it's only 84° instead of 91° out there, I'm going to take a run down Park Ave and back up in about a half hour. Even if I can't hit the distance, at least I went tonight. Hoping for cooler weather Friday and Sunday! I'm over summer. I'm a spring/fall gal.

I shall leave you with... proof that I've been busy!

And I haven't even added a bunch of stuff coming up in late September. Sigh. At least I can't complain about being bored...