Surrounded by Love

With a side helping of gratitude

Hi.

As you can imagine, it’s been a crazy few days.

The book landed yesterday, and I was so flooded with messages of support and love and encouragement. Thank you to everyone who has already bought your copy, evangelized to the masses, and otherwise been amazing. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Also, I’m kinda sick.

The baby (y’all laugh because you know he’s almost 3, but he will always be “the baby” and I have become that kind of mom) started with the cough and sniffles on Monday, and since yesterday afternoon I haven’t been able to stop sneezing. Went to bed early, feel okay today other than that my nose is a faucet. But meh. I’ve had worse.

All day yesterday, sales brought When We Were Mothers up the Amazon charts. We were so close to breaking into the top 100 Dystopian Fiction books, where books like The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, and Brave New World sit. In fact, look at this:

Screenshot from Amazon’s Literary Criticism and Theory category

It would be amazing to sit among the greats in the dystopian bestsellers, and I hope I can get there. I do think the subject matter absolutely fits, even if I wouldn’t compare my writing to Atwood or Orwell.

Bestseller Mode

So, it’s time to kick this launch into high gear. Some of you heard from me yesterday. Some of you will also hear from me tomorrow. The most important thing right now is to show the world what so many of you who have read the book have said: The world needs this book. Now.

So let’s reach into the depths of our connections and out of our comfort zones and let people who would love the book know it exists. Do you belong to any Facebook groups or book clubs that would enjoy When We Were Mothers? Do you have a book club/group or other affinity group (motherhood, perhaps?!) at work where you can let people know the book exits? Are you on LinkedIn? I’ll be posting about it there later today. Feel free to repost, quote post, etc.

Sustained sales are better than huge spikes, so please do keep referring your gym owners and your bank tellers and your dog walkers and anyone else you know who might be interested. Here’s the Amazon link again in case you need it. And while you’re at it, you can direct people here to Nicci’s Notes, where a bright, shiny new collection of Book Club Questions will be waiting for them. Here. You can have them, too!

Also—and this is very important—please, if you’ve read the book, please review it on Amazon. I am doing a few promotions that require a certain number of reviews, so the more the better. There are already 23 ratings (all five stars! 😊) on Goodreads, and if your review is already up there copying and pasting is fine! Also, don’t feel like you have to write a novel about my novel. A sentence or two that says what you liked most about the story, along with a star rating, is plenty!!!

Surrounded by Love

When I went to brush my teeth last night, there was a congratulations note on the bathroom counter from my husband. In the mirror was a little yellow post-it my daughter wrote to me a few months ago that says, “Best Mom Ever.” So many texts and social media tags came in throughout yesterday that I had trouble keeping up. Friends checked on me throughout the day to see how the launch was going, but also to ask how I was feeling about it all. It really did show me just how much love and support I have as a partner, a mom, a friend, and a professional writer.

As lonely as this profession feels sometimes, it’s really nice to have a reminder of all the people who are standing in my corner, ready to catch me when I inevitably fall over unconscious from the toll this process has taken on me.

What’s Exciting Me?

Events! I now have three events scheduled, and there are more to come.

• February 5, 12:00 PM EST - Workout and Book Signing at STRIDE Fitness in Burlington, MA

• February 27, 2:00 PM EST - Virtual Launch Party

• March 18, 3:00 PM EST - Burlington Public Library Author Talk & Book Signing

What’s Entertaining Me?

We finished White Lotus Season 2, and I guess all I can say is that, at least where it relates to Portia and Tanya’s storylines, the season finale made sitting through all the ridiculousness in episodes 1-6 worth it. I don’t know if I’d watch a Season 3.

Looking forward to the return of Succession and F1 racing.

I also finished Atomic Anna, by Rachel Barenbaum, and I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who loves some historical fiction with a little time travel. Five stars for sure.

I need to start The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid for a book club, and I’m excited about that! I’ve heard great things about this author. I’m 86 pages into Colleen Hoover’s It Starts With Us, and it’s fine so far.

What’s Enlightening Me?

Just how much work it takes to publicize a book without the marketing budget of a publishing house. Holy cow. And something I just, right this second, realized is that we often put the work ahead of the creator. I guess that goes back to my ruminations on last week’s notes about what art is worth and how much respect we (don’t) give artists and creators. I know Rachel Barenbaum personally, but still on my first attempt I wrote just the book title and not her name. I did the same thing with the other two books. Is it because they’re so commonly known that I expect readers would already be familiar with them? (That would be very presumptuous.) Or is it that I have internalized the same disregard to the people creating the work I consume? I don’t know, but that little slip has hopefully made me more aware for next time.

Okay. I’m going to sign off for now. But before I do, I just want to thank you all once more for being the best, most supportive folks ever in history. This community means the world to me, and I wouldn’t have even finished this book without you, much less published it.

Thank you!!!

Nicci