The Matron and the Market

This is where yours truly is most at home -- her office.   Friends, this warm jewel of a room sits high above the city along the bluffs of the Mississippi River.  She and her dearest found the most fabulous of all fabulous homes in a neighborhood with a generally undesirable zip code.    But there are pockets of peace and prosperity in said zip code, and that's where they reside.   While the nature of online teaching and writing, generally, allow her to work in coffee shops and on-any-road, she is pretty darn happy in the homestead, working, writing or staring into the family calendar wishing she had a higher IQ or spreadsheet to figure out driving schedule.

Here is another comfortable domain:  the kitchen.   Some complexities and caveats exist here; while the Matron may be comfortable in the kitchen she is not necessarily consistently successful there.    Here is an attempt at a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting -- and nobody bought it in a box, folks.   The Matron is a whiz with many things (spicy chicken wings, meats in general, veggies of all sorts) but she chugs along as a learner when it comes to baking.   Plus she makes a great big mess.   But the kitchen!  If the Matron isn't in her office, she's here.  Sometimes she brings her laptop to that very table and sort of runs the world from the kitchen.

Where the Matron is not yet very comfortable is in the land of commerce.   Now that she has a book to peddle, it would appear she is awash with uncertainty.

"You read the book?   OMIGOD I can't believe you READ THE BOOK!?   Should I pay you?"

"Oh no -- don't buy one!  Let me give you one!"

"Did it suck?"

"What are my hopes for the book?  Hmmm . . I guess that I don't embarrass myself??

The Matron's Emotional Intensity surrounding this project has surprised her.  She was unprepared.   Well, she was unprepared for the whole endeavor, but that was last week's blog post.   Still, when she learns that someone she considers a friend has not yet bought her book or appears to have no plans to do so, she doesn't shrug it off or think "he's not a reader" but instead, feels betrayed.

For the record, the Matron reads the books her friends write.  Or pretends to (a strategy that will work for friends who might be reading this without considering the book).

However, in the midst of this uncertainty and turmoil, she has made one key, important discovery.  The book itself, actually?  She just reread the whole darn thing -- first time in  years -- and had a few goose bump moments.   A few sentences sparkle and stand out, keepers.  The story has dimension, side-roads, strong characters.   It's a little simple, a little light.   It's not going to win any literary awards.

But those hopes for the book?  Realized.  She is decidedly not embarrassed by it.

So she's going to raise that bar higher and hope for more.  The Matron is going to work hard for that little book, even if it takes her out of the kitchen and the comfort zone.   Starting with:  if you have a blog and your'e reading this one, consider a Matronly guest post?  She's happy to come into your zone and pimp her book tell the sparkly, uplifting story of one son who published his mother's book.    If you're willing to host a guest or blog about the book yourself, let her know at mpetrie33 at gmail.