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Release Your Babies

It’s the end of the first week after the release of Measure of Love.  The publisher is doing a slow rollout, which means that it’s up or out in some places and not in others, though it will be everywhere within the next few weeks.

Things are different this time.  They’re not doing a promotion, so no big Kindle giveaway of this book.  Sorry.  On the other hand, Amazon (at least) seems to be sending out emails to everyone who got Life from Scratch — over 125,000 people — to tell them of the new book’s existence.  Which is obviously 125,000 kinds of awesome, a small benefit to it being a second book as opposed to a first book.

Measure Of Love Final Cover Blog

I get a lot of practice on sending things out there.  I write a lot of emails; poof — they’re out of my hands and I don’t know how they’ll be received.  I write a lot of blog posts; poof — they go up on Stirrup Queens and I have no idea if you’ll read them and like them, or if you’ll tell me that I’m bat-shit-insane and completely wrong.

But even with all of that practice, it is still hard to release a book.  To send it out there and know it is being read.  Will the story hold up?  Will it entertain?  Will it make you think… a little bit?  Not too much?  My favourite books tend to make me think a little bit, and enjoy myself a lot.  Those are the sort of books I aim to write.  So did I succeed?  Or did the book fall flat?  There’s just no way to know until the book is out of your hands and in front of a reader’s eyes.

And that is frankly scary, even if I am happy to have it done.  Even if it’s what I want.

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It is also the end of Truman’s first week with our family.  We’ve started to allow him to run free in the kitchen.  We take him out when the kids come home from school, and then he stays out until dinner time.  It is a little bit scary for him; big open space, lots of strange noises, unsure of where to go.  Sometimes the kids sit on the floor with their legs outstretched, feet touching, and Truman runs between them, back and forth, wheeking happily and pausing to eat carrot tops.

The third time I placed him down, he ran underneath a cabinet and crouched in the darkness, out of reach.  I knew this was a possibility, but I didn’t close off the space because the cabinets can be moved.  A pain in the ass but feasible.  I allowed him to sit underneath for a few minutes, and then slid the cabinets away from the wall, squeezing through a narrow opening and scooping him off the floor.

After this happened, I started stressing about putting him down.  I didn’t want to constantly move the cabinets but didn’t know how to shut off access.  I’m sure being out is somewhat scary and exciting for him — the wide, open spaces! the treats he may find! — but it is also scary and exciting for me.  He’s so little; I never want him to get hurt.  But I can’t let him just languish in a cage, and I like him beside me at all times.  During the day, we’re together as I write, and then in the afternoon, we’re together as I cook.

We came up with the plan to build a wall out of old Duplo blocks (what else do you do with those things once your children graduate to Legos?) to close off the cabinetry.  It will give me the peace of mind that I won’t find him unreachable underneath furniture while giving him the rest of the kitchen to explore.

It’s hard to do it, but you have to release your babies.

8 comments

1 Tiara { 04.14.13 at 7:49 am }

I got my email from Amazon.ca that the kindle version was available which I’m so excited since last time I had to wait so long!!

2 Catwoman73 { 04.14.13 at 9:59 am }

Yes! It is incredibly hard to release our babies! I have no fur babies at the moment (trying really hard to convince hubby to get one though!), but my daughter starts school in the fall, and I admit that I’m having trouble letting go. I know she’ll be fine- in fact, I know she’ll love it- but I’m not as sure that I’ll be fine. I’m not ready for her to be so grown up!

3 lostintranslation73 { 04.14.13 at 4:28 pm }

Hmm… so I didn’t comment on any of the previous posts about Truman or Cozy because I never really know what to say when it comes to animals and emotions. Obviously I’m not an animal person… But, when I was four I had a guinea pig too, and what you wrote about Truman hiding under the cabinets brought back lovely memories (my guinea pig’s end was a sad one though – we went on vacation for a week and my grandma was looking after him, we told he she didn’t need to clean the cage, she did it anyway, put him on the kitchen counter, he slipped, fell in the sink and broke his neck… Not long after that my sister turned out to be allergic to all kinds of things so we never had an animal in the house anymore after that).

I’ll make sure my sister will bring “Measure of Love” with her this summer when she comes back to Europe so I can read it!

4 a { 04.14.13 at 5:24 pm }

I haven’t decided whether to get my copy of Measure of Love in tangible form or for my Kindle. I’m sure I will decide this week. 🙂

Couldn’t you coax him out with food? That’s how I tend to try and motivate all animals, and it usually works, but I’ve never had a guinea pig.

5 persnickety { 04.14.13 at 6:39 pm }

I have always been under the impression that guinea pigs were shy animals, based on my experiences as a child, but apparently there may have been some traumatic experience involving a flying fisher price bus, that I was not aware of until very recently (this would have been my brother who is now very big on animal rights), so the the two I have known may have become shy in defense after involvement with small boys (my stepbrothers one was also shy)
Perhaps build him a refuge that he can retreat to when he needs to in the kitchen (or elsewhere) so that he feels secure but isn’t under cupboards- a cardboard box with food/bedding/water? That way he is free to roam but has a refuge as well.

6 Katherine A { 04.14.13 at 11:09 pm }

I’ve got my Kindle copy of the book and am really enjoying it so far (mid-way through or thereabouts).

I’d never have thought of Duplo blocks – very creative! We always had old blankets rolled up under the open edges of most of the furniture to keep the rabbit from getting under (he was a tiny dwarf breed rabbit, about 2 lbs), especially after one night where he managed to get under the sofa and it took a considerable amount of time/creativity to convince him to come back out.

Hope Truman continues to get adjusted to his new home and hope things go well with that.

7 Kathy { 04.14.13 at 11:46 pm }

It is hard to do, but I am so very proud of you! xoxo

8 Lori Lavender Luz { 04.15.13 at 9:16 pm }

Wow — 125,000 people!

I need this post to remember that setting free and being set free can be a little bit scary.

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