Last Saturday I got an important phone call – not from an agent or editor, but from a friend. “I was walking by Diesel Books this morning and they had your book IN THE WINDOW,” Alice said. Anything else she said was lost in the squealing from my end that followed. Not only was this the first sighting of my book When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco “in the wild”, but it is technically not due out until July 20th, so I was caught off guard.

Of course, the very next day I got myself over to the bookstore. As I approached the window, I could see my little orange book front and center in the store window, along with other children’s books that related to travel or other countries. Squee! After admiring it (and yes, taking a few photos I’ll admit) I went inside, where I was greeted with a floor to ceiling display of children’s books with my book face-out right at eye level (not three books away from In Our Mother’s House by Patricia Pollaco). And I’m not even related to any of the people that run the store. More squee!

I thanked the guys at the counter for putting my book in the window and they asked if I would sign the copies they had in the store. Um, sure. I guess. Staring at the pristine white page with an extra-fine Sharpie in my hand, I was stuck as to what to write. I mean, I can write my name and all, but most authors have some snappy little something that they put in the front. “Just draw a little picture,” one of the guys said. “That’s what a lot of kidlit authors do.” Ugh. Even worse, as I can’t draw at all. I finally just signed my name and they put the books back on the shelf with a fancy little “Signed by Author” sticker on them. Squee overload.

After years of writing and submitting, 3 ½ of those since I first sold this book to Clarion, I finally had that moment that most authors dream about – I signed my book in a bookstore. It was a little weird walking away and leaving my books at the store for other people to pick up and hopefully buy and share. Once the squeeing subsided, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction, the knowledge that something concrete has finally come out of all of this. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that the true elation will come when (hopefully) I get a letter or an email from a kid or a parent or a teacher who read the book and enjoyed it, and that maybe it added something to their life, if even for just a moment or two.

For anyone who wonders if the years of learning, writing, rewriting, throwing out bad copy, attending conferences, contacting publishers, getting an agent, revising and waiting is all worth it, I only have one answer. You betcha.

Related posts:

1. Connect With Cynthia Jaynes Omololu: Boy Books
2. Connect with Cynthia Jaynes Omololu: MySpace and Facebook and Twitter, Oh My!
3. WHEN IT’S SIX O’CLOCK IN SAN FRANCISCO: A TRIP THROUGH TIME ZONES by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
4. Connect with Leigh Brescia: Book Expo America
5. Unsung Books: BIRTH OF THE FIREBRINGER