“Dad. Dad! Its back on.” It was my daughter trying to get my attention. I had muted the sound of the college football game I was watching while reading “The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction.” by Alan Jacobs (Link to Book on Amazon). I am not sure what Alan Jacobs would make of what I just described.
Anyway, the quote I picked out of “Pleasures” was, “To publish a book is to invite a response.” Of the many wisdoms to pick out and blog about from that book, I chose it because this morning I received a response to Tripio https://www.amazon.com/Tripio-novel-Starbucks-Millionaire-Novelist-ebook/dp/B07NQ1413V . A response to the prologue anyway.
The response comes from an employee of Starbucks who works for their legal department in Seattle. She has been a sounding board for Tripio through my brother in law, a lawyer also living in Seattle. She had read the first ten pages of Tripio many months and many edits ago. I recall getting her response to that early version and hearing positive, uplifting things. I was excited and pleased to hear that she would be interested in reading more of the book. That was in January.
Since then the emotional stakes have been raised. Tripio has become something altogether different to me. I don’t want to seem too precious in the comparison of Tripio to a child. But, here goes: In January Tripio was my 5 year old still at the house and getting praised a lot for just being who they were. Now, Tripio has been on the bus to school and is getting graded by complete strangers. Strangers with opinions and influence. These strangers hold the power to respond to Tripio and thus affect my emotions, thoughts, and hopes regarding its future. The email I read this morning from the Starbucks lawyer was greatly appreciated and it’s something I’m going to have to get used to. I invited a response, got it, but I am not sure how I feel about sending Tripio back to school on Monday.
“May I help who’s next?”
