Finding a Mentor

In one-hundred and two days The Promise of Amazing will be out in the world.  Even after all the work I've done on it this past year -the excitement of the sale, the editorial letter, seeing the cover, walking into the HarperCollins offices and trying desperately not to fangirl as I met my editor for the first time, holding a bound galley in my hand- it still seems surreal.  To put it in perspective, last year at this time I was busy polishing up the final draft to send to my agent.  In my wildest dreams I could never have predicted the route my manuscript has taken.  There are people who sell their novels and have to wait a few years before ever seeing it in print. I know I'm one of the lucky ones, and I never take that for granted.

I should be cracking open the bubbly, eating dark chocolate truffles and propping my feet up, right?

Ha! What I really feel like I should be doing is wearing a shirt that reads "Sorry if I'm acting like a jackass, I have a book coming out in three months".  

I've been cranky.  And self centered.  And worried I talk about the book too much, or not enough.  That I'm doing everything wrong and at some point someone is going to catch up to me and say this has all been a mistake.  If someone asks me about the book, I'm suddenly mute and evasive.  If someone doesn't ask me about the book, I wonder why.  My new WIP is pissing me off.  I'd really like to go to Target.  Or make a dent in my TBR pile. In the words of Jacobim Mugatu in Zoolander:

 "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

The other day I had a misunderstanding with a friend.  He said something about the book, and I took it the wrong way.  It hurt me. Not because I'm some special debut snowflake but because I have certain expectations of my friends and I felt like this crossed a line. (kind of a love me, love my book situation)  Rationally, I knew he didn't mean anything by what he said but I still felt like he should have been more sensitive about it.  I was feeling really weird about the whole thing, wondering if I'm just extra sensitive in light of many of the events in my personal life this year. Then I realized I'm not the first person to ever have a book coming out, that maybe I just needed someone to talk to, a mentor, and suss out if what I'm feeling is normal or if it was time for me to self-medicate with a large dose of chocolate and The Vampire Diaries.  I prayed for words of wisdom.

Not one hour later, I stumbled across a tweet from one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott, and then to this link to a post she had written on Facebook.   I nearly cried with relief.   The words I needed to hear at just the time I needed to hear them.   It truly felt like an answered prayer.  Her post made me laugh, and most importantly laugh at myself, which is always a good thing.  I felt lighter, better. 

It's so important, at every stage in our careers, to have a mentor.  Whether it's someone you can truly talk to or a passage in a book or a post on the internet -  hearing those right words at the right time can make all the difference.   Who do you turn to?  Any words of writing wisdom that you really love and have made a difference to you?   Please, share!!