Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Magical Moment of the Proof Copy

Yesterday I received the first paperback copy of my book, Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen. The result of hours of research, writing, and editing was placed into my hands in this perfect little bundle held between a gorgeous cover with my own name proudly stamped across the front.

It is a magical moment to look at that first proof copy and feel that an important milestone in life has been achieved. This fleeting moment is pure joy before I start to worry again whether people will like it and if I've corrected all of my grammatical errors. For just a few seconds, I can simply be in awe that I have created a 450 page story that other people can access.

Then I get scared again.

If people have access to my book, they can see into my head and criticize my reasoning. They can see inside my heart and judge whether or not they agree with what they find there. Suddenly, I feel guilty for every negative book review I have ever written, because I know that those authors, just like me, felt that they were creating their masterpiece, a story near and dear to their hearts.

Then I flip through the pages, smelling that fresh off the press fragrance and seeing my own turns of phrase popping out at me, and I know that it is all worth it.

Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen: The story of Elizabeth of York will be available in paperback and Kindle format on August 18, 2015.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2015 at 3:20 PM

    Are you going to post an excerpt?!
    Congrats, writing and completing a book is a huge accomplishment!

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    1. Samantha WilcoxsonJuly 22, 2015 at 4:21 PM

      Thank you! I'll have to consider a good excerpt for an upcoming post.

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  2. AnonymousJuly 22, 2015 at 8:47 PM

    Great! And with historical fiction, it is tough bc people can get very defensive over their favs but at the end of the day, if you gave it your all and were respectful to the facts we do have, that is really all anyone can ask. And from reading your blog, that def seems to be the case with your book :)

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    1. Samantha WilcoxsonJuly 23, 2015 at 8:13 AM

      Thanks for your encouragement! Some of us can get quite defensive about our beloved historical figures, but I enjoy seeing what different authors do with the same historical information.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 23, 2015 at 4:21 AM

    a 450 page story is VERY impressive. congrats! i have difficulty to simply write one paragraph, whatever the subject, so WOW. and the cover is pretty. simple but elegant.

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    1. Samantha WilcoxsonJuly 23, 2015 at 8:16 AM

      It has been a labor of love, and I'm thrilled to see it almost ready to go. Thank you for your feedback on the cover. The designer did something a little different than I had in mind, but I love it! (That's why they're the graphic artist and I'm the writer.)

      Delete

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