Dear Team Practical,
It occurs to me that I’ve been writing you these letters for a long time, and the whole time I’ve been writing them, I wanted to write a book. And suddenly, here we are. Tomorrow, starting at 3:00 am PST, a post will go up reminding you that it’s time for The Great APW Book Buy. Then, at some point, I’ll wake up over here in California, look at the Amazon stats, and start live blogging about the whole process. I wish I could tell you I was just excited, but honestly, I’m a bit scared.
Right now, I feel like I’m standing at the edge of the cliff. For those of you who have seen the new Muppet movie (see the new Muppet movie!) I’m definitely Fozzie, wrapped in a blanket in a hammock asking Kermit, “Are we going to be ok, Kermit?” Obviously, David is Kermit. I might not sleep that much in my little hammock tonight.
Ever since I started writing APW, I wanted to write a wedding book with my particular perspective. A sane book. A mildly irreverent book. A book that told you it was ok to do what you wanted, but you also had to respect other people’s feelings. A book inspired by all the Miss Manners books I giggled over as a small child lying at the bottom of a very large bookshelf, but with how-to instructions on how to actually get the job done. A book with some proper wedding history included. A book that told you how to get to the other side with grace and with your dignity and savings more or less intact. I wanted to write the book I really needed when I was planning.
All this is to say, A Practical Wedding: Creative Solutions for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration (don’t buy it till tomorrow!) really matters to me. That’s been the difficult part of the last few weeks, realizing that the book really matters, and I actually care how it sells, and I actually care if it helps people, and I really want to get it out into the world. It would be so much easier if I didn’t care that much. But I suppose that good things are never easy.
But it’s also been a great few weeks, watching the book take its first tentative steps into the world. I cried when I read Alyssa’s review of the book. Because you guys, she actually really liked it (I did not bribe her to say any of that). And I wrote the damn book, so I had no idea if it was good or not by the time all was said and done. I just knew that in that moment, I’d done my best.
And now it’s up to you. It’s hard for me to let go, and know that I’ve done everything I can do, and that I have to entrust this to your hands, and just let it fly, but here we are. It’s the eve of The Great APW Book Buy Day, and this is where we are. I can tell you that if everyone who read this site (both on RSS and on the regular site) today bought a book today, we’d probably make the New York Times bestseller list. But I also know that’s not a realistic goal, and I’m a realist. So what I do think we can do, for sure, is push the book up the Amazon bestseller list tomorrow. It’s the holiday season, so it’s going to be tricky, but that much I think we can do. And is it possible we’ll do more? Maybe. Who knows. But right now I’m grateful to each of you that buys a book, tells a friend about it, writes an online review, asks a bookstore about it, gives it to your friend getting married, gives it to your mom to calm her down, or just reads it. I’m so profoundly grateful, in advance.
So, while I’ll give final instructions in the post tomorrow, basically what I have to say it this: if you’re going to buy the book, buy it in the way that works for you, and don’t stress out about it. That is more than enough. I’ll be doing the same. My author discount is only a little less than the Amazon price, so I’m going to buy my own book on Book Buy Day, just because I can.
Oh. And the picture on this post. I wasn’t going to share this because One Love Photo captured a super personal emotional moment. But then I thought, yes, I should share it. This is me, looking at my book, pondering the fact that it got born at all. Here we go.
With Gratitude (and only a tiny bit of terror),
Meg
Photo: One Love Photo
