When Martin asked me to write a post for the Elevensestime blog to celebrate the launch of my third book, Song of the Storm, I had to sit back for a minute and think about how I came to be part of that wonderful group on twitter.
The truth is, I have no idea.
It was so long ago, and it just happened the way everything happens on twitter: somehow, you meet the right people.
Since I joined twitter in late 2008, this has happened to me—and you too, I bet—over and over again.
Here’s the best example: I met my publisher Buddhapuss Ink, on twitter!
That was some time in 2009. We talked about coffee and bagels, and about how her puppy kept her up at night, about the weather, and backyard gardening—in fact, we talked about nearly everything except writing or publishing.
It took me nearly a year to gather the courage to post one page of my manuscript (page 99) on my blog. I tweeted the link to my followers and almost immediately I got an email from Buddhapuss asking for the rest of the book.
I’d just finished writing The Distant Shore, and I had no idea how to submit a novel to a publisher, or what shape it should be in, but I did I know that what I’d written needed to be edited, and heavily.
Six frantic weeks later I finally sent it to them and promptly got signed.
When I signed that first book deal I had no idea how my life would change.
Do you know how it is when you are at a certain point in life and you alter one thing just a tiny bit, and suddenly everything is different? Like, when you write for fun and to entertain yourself, and then someone shows up and says, “Hey, let me have a look!” and you let them, and wham—a whole new world! Yeah, like that.
Suddenly I was traveling, writing like crazy, taking my first steps as an author, signing books, and giving interviews. And through it all, there was twitter.
Like a big, friendly family, my twitter friends walked that road with me, cheered me on and gave me mental hugs when things got a little rough, like that night last year, when I was traveling home from Salt Lake City to Germany and had to spend an entire day at JFK airport after an overnight flight. That’s the great thing about twitter: there’s always someone awake somewhere.
Anyway. tomorrow is launch day for Song of the Storm, and that’s why I’m writing this blog post. So let me tell you a little bit about it.
Song of the Storm is the third and final book in the Stone Trilogy. It continues the story of rock superstar Jon Stone and his wife Naomi.
After all the adventures and trials they went through in the previous two books, they’ve finally settled into the house in Brooklyn that Naomi gave Jon as a wedding present. They’ve just completed a world tour with Jon’s band, are expecting a new baby, and are staging a Broadway musical that they’ve written together.
Even Jon’s restless manager Sal, has found someone to love. It seems as if they’ve all sailed into calm waters at long last.
The only problem is one of timing, the year is 2001, and the preview of the show is scheduled for September.
Reviewer Lucy Pireel says this about Song of the Storm:
“The way this author very tastefully brought 9/11 into the plot is amazing and does justice to the people who suffered and still do from this vile and low attack on innocent New Yorkers as well as the people in the other planes and places.”
This novel is probably the one closest to my heart. I love New York City very much. I feel very much at home there, and even today, twelve years later, it still hurts to drive through Manhattan and not see the World Trade Center. Granted, the new tower looks great. But it’s not the same. And it will always remind us of what happened.
I have friends who were in New York on 9/11, and I wrote this book for them. It tells the stories that live on in their memories but does it through the words and thoughts of the novel’s characters.
I very much hope you will read and like it.
Oh, and I’ll see you on twitter!
This was the first stop on Mariam’s Blog Hop celebrating the launch of Song of the Storm. We’re hosting a giveaway for some great prizes—check out the info on our blog.
Tomorrow Mariam will be visiting Angela Barton for an interview, you won’t want to miss it!
