Category Archive

I have always loved the theme of people being able to forge their own path in life, especially if it involves defying expectations.  In America we often take this for granted, but I think it was a fairly new concept in the course of human history.  Throughout the ages, most people simply followed in the well-worn paths that had been carved out for them by generations of their forefathers.  If your father was a farmer, you became a farmer.  A blacksmith? A printer?  You began learning the trade as you grew up and worked alongside your father until you were ready to take over the reins. 

I admire people who defy expectations.  In The Lady of Bolton Hill, Daniel was destined to work in a steel mill until he was an old man…..but with an immense amount of work, a bit of ingenuity, and a lot of luck, he broke free of the mold that had been built for him.  Clara also defies expectations.  Despite her father’s determination that she become a world-famous composer, she breaks away to forge her own path as a journalist.   It is not always easy to break out of those expectations, but if a person is true to him or herself….has a level of introspection and faith that they are on the right path….forging your own destiny is not only possible, it is the best way to live.   

We have so much more freedom now.  This can be a mixed blessing, which I see on my college campus every day as young adults struggle to define themselves.  Panic begins to set in during their senior year when they realize that reality is looming just a few short months away and they are still uncertain about what they want to be “when they grow up.”  The temptation to dive into graduate school is intense.  In many cases, it is a mistake.   

I don’t think we can blame young people for struggling with what kind of career they want to pursue.  In the course of history, this is a very new concept.  I tell the my students that there is nothing wrong with “treading water” for a few years while you decide what you want to do.  I certainly did.  After college with a degree in history (and what precisely do you do with that?) I worked in an entry level position as a data entry clerk.   It was during those two years of self-reflection that I determined what I ultimately wanted to do with my life.  To my dismay, I learned that becoming a librarian would require a master’s degree in Library Science.  This was in the early 1990’s, before the era of online education, and since there was no graduate program in Virginia, it required me to move to Indiana for my degree. 

Leaving everything I knew behind to trek out on my own was scary, a financial burden, and a lot of work, but I had the gift of freedom to forge my own destiny. And that turned out to be a very good thing. 

Photo courtesy of James Walsh

Somehow, the book-signing has evolved into a right of passage for authors.  Frankly, I’d rather have a tooth pulled than talk about myself, hawk my books, or in any other way draw attention to myself.  When I first landed the contract for The Lady of Bolton Hill, I assumed I would be one of those writers who quietly published her books without telling friends, co-workers, or neighbors.  I simply dread the attention or the perception that I might be trying to foist my books on them.  Revealing myself online is easy for me, but in real life? 

Anxiety is a strange thing.  The logical portion of my brain, normally so dominate in my life, collapses in the face of mild provocations like meeting someone new or attending a book signing.  I can marshal a dozen perfectly logical reasons to quell the anxiety, but I’ve been living with this long enough to know that these techniques will be useless in the face of a social interaction. 

So along comes an opportunity to participate in a book signing at a nearby LifeWay Christian Store.  My instinctive reaction was to run and hide.  I know that unless you are a superstar (hello, Tim Tebow, Nora Roberts, Ken Follett), the likelihood of sitting alone at a table while listening to crickets chirp in the background is pretty high.  Still, LifeWay has been generous in helping me promote my debut novel, and I simply could not repay that sort of kindness by letting anxiety get the better of me and refusing to come.

How fortunate I was to have two other seasoned authors sitting at the table with me.  Mark Mynheir is a homicide detective who writes suspense novels, and Dan Walsh is a pastor and author of historical novels.  Not only were these guys terrific company who helped show me the ropes, they both had plenty of experience in dealing with the public and book signings.  There was also a lovely young lady named Rebekah who did a wonderful job as a greeter for the event.

As is often the case with these irrational anxieties, within about five minutes of entering the store I was perfectly fine.  I have learned the only thing that works to defeat an attack of The Nerves is to meet it head on in a frontal assault.  I am always fine once I get to an event (a party, business meeting, etc.) but the run-up is awful.

So my first book signing turned out to be a thrilling event.  I moved a respectable number of books, met some terrific fellow-authors, and felt much better about not letting my amorphous anxieties get the better of me.

Still… to this day not a single one of my neighbors or co-workers know that I’ve written a novel, nor are they likely to in the near future.  I suppose I need to take this sort of thing one day at a time!