so i'm not sure what this means, but i think it's cool

once upon a time a homemaker decided to write a fantasy story for herself and her then 11- and 9-year-old boys. she decided to have Lulu print it so she'd have one copy to show that she'd actually written a novel. she didn't care if anyone else read it. but then she told some friends and family members about it, and they said they wanted to read it. she bought an ISBN so it could be on Amazon, but she didn't do much to promote it because, frankly, it was scary having anyone else read it, be they acquaintances or strangers.

fast forward a few years and she met some really cool bloggers and writers on the internet, some of whom are also indie authors (which sounds so much more hip and rebellious than self-publisher). one of those indie authors connected with her enough that she asked this homemaker/writer to be a beta reader for her second book. the homemaker was thrilled and honored that this writer (whose first book she thoroughly enjoyed) would even ask her.

so the homemaker/writer became a beta reader, partly because the first book had been a cliffhanger of major proportions and she really wanted to know what happened, but waiting for the book to come out for the general public was killing her. plus the idea of helping a fellow writer with a novel was highly appealing. (and editing someone else's story is so much easier than editing your own.)

what really floored this homemaker was when the indie author friend asked for a one or two line review. just yesterday, this homemaker was curious if the review had ended up on the cover, so she went to look on Amazon.

and then she remembered that when she'd edited the pdf for this indie friend, she'd read this in the acknowledgements. and she was touched that this friend would include her. 

so that's my story and i'm not sure what it means, but i think it's really cool that i went from obscure writer mom to being an endorser. it's been an amazing, surprising, humbling journey.

now i just have to remember to not be too impressed with myself.

(thanks to Kristie Cook for permission to use the images from her book Purpose.)