How to celebrate a book’s birthday
In the publishing world, when a book is finally, officially, published, that day is known as the book’s “birthday.” It takes a looooooong time for a book to be “born”—in the case of Rewind it was over four years! (This is much longer than it usually takes for my books—but that may be another blog post.) And by the time it is born, the author is usually deep into writing another novel, and it’s been ages since she even glanced at the birthday book! So this momentous day can often feel a little underwhelming, to tell the truth.
Nonetheless, I think it’s really important to celebrate milestones in publishing. A new book isn’t born every day, after all! (Well, okay, maybe technically one is . . . But not one I wrote.)
So this book birthday, Kiddo and I decided to take Rewind out for a walk in the woods. That’s what we like to do for our birthdays—so we figured the book would like it too! :)
We took the book to one of our favorite spots, and let it hang out with all the best trees. It took a little rest by the water mill, and played Pooh Sticks on the rickety bridge over the creek. (There was a lot of “Don’t let the book fall into the water!” during this last bit.) It was very silly and fun, and fortunately we had the woods all to ourselves, so no one could wonder what the heck we were doing. (Or maybe this is a totally normal escapade, and passersby would’ve been like, “Oh, taking your book out for its birthday, are you? Carry on!”)
And since Kiddo always insists we bring a snack on our walk, we decided it would be only fitting to have some Dunkaroos. (We actually just grabbed these from our cupboard—Kiddo learned about Dunkaroos when we read Rewind together, and then freaked out when we spotted them in the grocery store and we had to buy them. Honestly, they’re not nearly as good as I remember, but Kiddo loves them.) The walk was a huge hit, and I definitely think this may need to be an official part of my book birthday celebrations from now on. :)
We finished out the day by heading to our local diner with the whole family, for a book birthday celebration that dates way, way back. When my very first book came out a million years ago, right after I spotted it in a bookstore for the first time, I went to a diner and had waffles and ice cream. And that seemed like such a good way to celebrate that I have done the same thing with every single book I’ve had published since. (Ice cream not pictured in this photo—but believe me, I ate it, and it was delicious!)
How would you celebrate a book’s birthday? What are some of your silly celebratory traditions? (Also, have you gotten your hands on Rewind yet? It’s so good!!)
Happy reading!
♥ Lisa
