April 26, 2013 • Events & Media
Advanced copies of my book started trickling out into the world this week.
A box of copies arrived on my front doorstep Tuesday, and it took me until Wednesday afternoon to hold a copy in my hand and feel the smooth, unspoiled cover’s gloss beneath my fingers. It took me another day to flip through the inside, hearing the whirr of pages and smelling the paper.
Yesterday, I bought mailing envelopes and labels, and I wrote heartfelt cards to those amazing individuals who helped bring the project to fruition. I smiled recalling each person’s contribution and beamed with pride as I enclosed a copy of the book to each person.
And this morning I sent them.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to send the books out. Or even to open the box. Other authors I know tear through packaging and rush to distribute advanced copies, anxious for the work to find the world.
But for me, the process was pure joy. I enjoyed savoring the moments to reconnect with professionals and colleagues to share news of the book’s upcoming release. I loved imagining the surprise some recipients might feel upon learning how much they truly did influence me along this journey.
And perhaps that is the book’s overarching lesson. It is the process of developing financial habits and knowledge that enhances our lives, and it is the process of building our skills as entrepreneurs that allows us to grow. In writing the book, that is the message I hoped to convey to others, and surprisingly, that is also the message I digested for myself.
The end results of our efforts will likely be wonderful. Or they won’t. But the results are irrelevant. Whether the book finds its way to the bestseller’s list or simply clogs my mother’s bookshelf and neglected overstock shelves in forgotten corners of the world doesn’t matter. Whether someone reads it and uses the information to enhance an already-thriving professional career or reads it, discards it, and never thinks about it again doesn’t matter.
It was the process that fulfilled me. And I hope it is the process of discovery that fills us all.
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