Skating through the fear

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Tension.

Hope.

Excitement.

Abject fear.

Over the moon delight.

Yep – stir those up in a bowl, add some sugar and bake at 350 degrees. When the timer dings you’ll get exactly what I’m feeling at this very moment. Today is release day for SKATING OVER THE LINE, the second of the Rebecca Robbins mystery novels from St. Martin’s Minotaur. Which means I should be doing….nothing.

Well, not nothing. I mean, I’ll be around on facebook and twitter and doing some book signings. (If you live in northern Illinois, you can come watch me skate counterclockwise at the book’s release party tomorrow night!) But after all the nail biting and waiting there is nothing I can really do but wait, and hope and wonder if anyone is reading the book. More important, I will be wondering if anyone liked the book. Will Pop make them laugh? Will Rebecca’s antics keep them turning pages?

I hope so.

So much of a writer’s life is spent in a state of hope. I hope an agent will like the book. I hope an editor will want to buy it. I hope readers will enjoy the story. There is fear, too. Fear of being rejected. Fear of a bad review. Fear of no one picking up the book you spent so much time and care on.

So I sit here today with equally combinations of fear and hope buzzing through my veins and I will pretend there is no fear. I will focus on the hope that someone will see the cover and pick the book up off the shelf. That they will read the jacket story teaser, smile and walk up to the counter. And that when they are done reading, they will still be smiling.

And in case you are curious, here is the jacket blurb about SKATING OVER THE LINE.  I hope you like it.

Rebecca is desperate to sell her inherited roller skating rink in small-town Indian Falls, and--finally--she has a buyer. She can't wait to head back to Chicago, especially now that her long delinquent father has blown back into town. But Lionel, her large-animal vet boyfriend, thinks she should stay put. And the gang at the Senior Center wants her to track down the thief who's been hot-wiring rusted-out classic cars. Unable to resist, Rebecca soon has the Sheriff's Deputy threatening to arrest her for obstruction and strange, scary men threatening her life. Then cars start exploding, with people in them, and Rebecca's father goes missing. With the help of her Elvis-impersonating grandfather, Rebecca must find the pyromaniac car thief and put a stop to him--before he stops her first.