The Book Arrived!

The paperback copies of According to Carley Love arrived today! I am so excited!

We were a bit ahead so that the paperback edition is available for sale on Amazon, however the eBook release day remains Thursday, September 21. You can pre-order now on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo.

I look at the book and hold it in my hand. The writing of this book has been quite a journey. It was often a lifeline that kept me from drowning in sorrow, futility, and overwhelming demands of sudden singleness and care-giving. The story certainly is far different than it started out. When I started it, I wanted to write an entire short story that took place at a funeral. Oh, I do love a good funeral. I follow after my dear mother-in-law with that.

The story also began in my mind back in the early ’80s, when I read a novel by the famous author from bygone days, Faith Baldwin. I thought, “Someday I want to write such a story for my generation.” I now have achieved that desire.

The book changed and grew, as I changed and grew. Many times for months and months, I abandoned it, only to return to the writing, trying to find myself and some purpose to my existence. It was at first turned down by my agent. I sought and received expertise from a retired editor from my former publishing house, who provided clarity and guidance through the mess of the book. I re-wrote it, shaping here, cutting there, found my way, and finally I reached a point of stubbornly refusing to quit. By then the book had become a boat helping me sail into my new life. My agent saw it again and gave me hope, proclaiming, “You are back!” Yet publishing had changed. The publisher considered the book Christian fiction, and they don’t do that, so I would have to find another home for it. Friends supported me. I pressed on.

Maybe now the biggest thing I feel is satisfaction of not giving up.

I’ve been asked by more than one: “Are you Carley Love?” and “Is this your story?”

The story is made up from ‘whole cloth’, as the saying goes. I have felt the feelings and conjured a story, although at one point I thought to title the book, Some Of It Is True. The cover of the book was done by a cover artist who also designs for large publishing houses, and who used a photo that I provided, of my own journal and pen, and those rose petals are from a bush saved from my grandmother’s house, and moved with me across many states and years now, and lives on.

I dare hope that there will be a few readers who are given relaxation and pleasure and hope, who laugh and nod with Carley Love, and who sigh when they turn the last page.

Blessings,