by: Joelle Charbonneau
This week something unexpected happened. I woke up on Thursday to an e-mail from my
editor letting me know that THE TESTING would appear as #14 on the 12/22/2013
NY Times YA Extended Best Seller list.
To say I was stunned would be a huge understatement. I think I turned white and my mother and
husband both thought that something was very wrong when I called them. Yeah – I guess I don’t handle good news very
well.
Since Thursday, I’ve thought a lot about what hitting the
list means. Most people would say that
The Times list is a mark of a successful writing career.
Maybe.
Oh – don’t get me wrong.
I’m thrilled and astonished and still processing the fact that something
I wrote hit that list. But as important
and wonderful that is, I don’t consider it to be my achievement alone. Yes, I wrote the book, but it took an
enormous village of people who believed in THE TESTING to help push the boulder
up the mountain. My editor, my agent,
the HMH marketing, sales and PR teams, and my family and friends – everyone
worked tirelessly to make sure readers learned about The Testing. This is a group effort and the spot on the
Times list belongs just as much to them and to all of you as it does to
me. That doesn’t diminish the
accomplishment, but I know there is no way I could have hit this place in my
career without enormous support.
Hitting the list is a successful group effort. And I am so proud that I am a part of the
team that did something so cool! But as
I sit behind my computer screen, I find that though the tag line behind my name
is different, I am not. I still measure
my own personal success in the same way that I always have. By getting up in the morning, putting my
hands on the keyboard and filling the pages with words. Each day that I write is a success. Each day I add pages or edit a story is a
success. Each time a reader picks up one
of my books and finds something engaging about my work is a success.
I don’t know what will happen to my writing career in a year
or two or ten. At this moment, I don’t
have a contract for another book. Who
knows…I might never get another one. Those
are things out of my control. The only
thing I can control is sitting in front of my computer screen and writing. And every day I do that is a success. Hopefully, you consider every day that you
sit down and work to be successful as well.
And most important - thank you. Thank you to each and every one of you who
has read my blog posts and maybe even read my books. You are part of the reason that I get to
write every day and I am more grateful to you than you can ever possibly know.
5 comments:
BIG congrats, Joelle!
Thanks, David. I'm still not sure I am processing the whole thing very well. It doesn't feel real:)
Well deserved Joelle. Congratulations!
Success comes from a job well done from baking a cake to winning a Nobel Prize. Congrats! The Testing is way cool!
Congrats on making the NY Times Bestsellers List.
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