Ben and I are treating this normal life like one big, exciting
adventure. While life changing moments may not take place every day, week, or
month, the little moments add up to make the biggest memories, which we are
treasuring up with the hopes that years down the road, after our yet to be
family has grown and life has slowed down, we will be able to pull up and smile
fondly at. (I hope nobody reads this and thinks we are about to be a family of
three…not yet! J )
Here is a peek into 2013—a bigger year for us, one we will always
hold near and dear to our hearts.
January
In January we welcomed our beautiful niece, Mariah Rose Harriman,
into the world. We fell in love instantly, and every time we go down to Yankton
Ben looks forward to one thing more than anything else—getting to hold the
baby! She has brought so much joy into our lives, and we love watching her grow
and change.
I also got the first printed copy of my first book—the promotional
copy, as it is called in the publishing world.
I also gained control of my author website in January! A team at Tate
Publishing put the site together and helped me get the hang of navigating it,
then released full control over to me. Now I can upload photos, write blog
posts, and make other changes to the site. Check it out here: http://sarawhitley.tateauthor.com/
February
I signed my contract for my second book in February! I was still
in the beginning stages of learning how to market my first book, so this was a
whirlwind time for me! Ben and I have learned so much since those first crazy
months of book ordering and planning events. We are looking forward to all the
events we will do in 2014.
February signaled the end of my days of a cashier. (Hopefully! I
would take a second job in a heartbeat if we needed to, but I pray I don’t have
to J) I started my wonderful new job
at Lutheran Social Services in February! Back then I worked as an assistant teacher
at an after-school and summer program, and I have since moved to a new program
where I am the lead teacher of 16 of the squirreliest, funniest, most difficult
group of kids I have ever had the privilege of working with. Some days I come
home crying in frustration, other days I come home laughing and telling story
after story of how wonderful my kids are. It’s the best job I’ve ever had, and
I feel so blessed to have found it!
March
March was a busy, busy month of book promotion! On March 2nd
I had my first official “pre-release” book signing at the University of Sioux
Falls. I forget that most of you don’t understand all the publishing jargon
that I have gotten to learn over the year, so I will fill you in on what this
means. The pre-release stage in publishing is similar to when a movie releases
in a movie theater. The point is to build excitement and get people talking
about the movie so that when it releases to the public, people actually want to
buy it. During the pre-release stage, I am the only one who has copies of the
book, which I order directly from Tate Publishing. I receive these books at a
discounted price and sell them for full profit, a great way to earn back the money
I invested into the project—I earn my full investment back when I sell 1000
copies in actual book stores and from online sites such as Amazon.com. The
copies I purchase don’t count towards the 1000 copies I have to sell, but it is
the quickest way to make money on this project! And it is also fun to put on
these events. I LOVE talking to people, especially kids who have a passion for
reading and writing. If I can inspire just a few people or turn even one soul
to Jesus, I have accomplished my goal. Here is what we did in March:
March 2nd—The first official pre-release party at USF
March 6th—I got to speak to the Faith Baptist Youth
Group and share the story of how God lead me to pursue this dream and how he
calmed my nerves and provided for me during each day of doubt. A wonderful
night!
March 16th—Pre-release signing in historic downtown Yankton
at Rexall Drug
I also attended my bridal shower and began writing my 3rd
story—I didn’t plan on expanding any more on Molly’s story but God had other
plans in mind. I have been spending my Christmas break pounding that out, and I
have a fourth story on the backburner that I had been working on before my
present project. Third book is called (at least for right now!) “A New Day
Dawning” (I hope you all have caught on to my “A” theme!) and the fourth is “The
Year of Jubilee.” I am beyond excited for these two stories!
April
In April the trailer of “Another Ending” was released! See it
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEyAV02zEU
USF also did a nice little news story for me. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLP0rJX2hM
Ben and I hit up LOTS of garage sales in April to fill up our
first place! We moved him in at the end of April, and our apartment quickly
became a cozy little home thanks to all the furniture my parents sent with us!
Ben’s favorite is a giant overstuffed chair that doesn’t fit through any
doorways or hallways. He had a blast taking off our front door and then removing
the feet of the chair in order to get it into the apartment. He loved it even
more when it wouldn’t fit down the hallway to the bedroom and we had to
rearrange the living room to fit it in J (Did you
catch the sarcasm? That chair is a source of great frustration for him. But it
is a great chair and will be following us to our next place.)
I got a Facebook fanpage in April! If you haven’t “liked” my page,
please do so here! https://www.facebook.com/authorsarawhitley
I try to
keep most of my book news separate from my personal page, to not overwhelm
people with book posts!
To finish off April I turned 20 and celebrated with a yummy
sundae, then watched my little brother grow up right before my eyes as he
walked down Grand March at his prom.
May
I kicked off May by going to a local elementary school and
speaking about my book! I am now in the process of writing and sending letters
to teachers offering to come speak in their classrooms. If you know of anyone
who might be interested let me know!
May is kind of a blur to me because a lot of things happened, but
nothing really big happened. I am grateful for that month though, because the
coming months would really make up for that! I finished my sophomore year and
ran around getting all the last minute wedding details figured out. I spent
countless hours constructing these guys:
Also, I watched my sister Katie graduate from Dordt College and
this awkward family photo was born:
I started working full time in May at the summer program—I worked
from 6:30-2:30 Monday through Friday all summer long. It was a struggle to drag
myself out of bed most mornings, and I was glad to go back to the normal 2-6
when school started up again in August. My first book was also officially released,
which means that bookstores were able to order and stock the book, and I could
now to book signings in bookstores.
Oh, I also suffered a panic attack the end of May and ended up in
the hospital. No big deal.
June:
WE GOT MARRIED!
That tops anything else that happened in June. We honeymooned at a
charming Bed&Breakfast in Jordan, Minnesota and hit up IKEA, Mall of
America, and ValleyFair while in Minneapolis. Perhaps we will take a more
exotic vacation before we start a family, but we are both pretty low-key people
and those few days of relaxation and laughter in the warm Minnesota summer air
were just what we needed after the previous fun-filled, stressful weeks.
I also got to see Barry Manilow in Sioux City with my mama! It was
a blast—he may be in his 70s but he’s still got it and he knows how to put on a
good show. I know you are all jealous
July
In July we just had a good old time being silly together. Here are
some of the things we did:
August
August was our first experience as a vendor at the Lifelight Music
Festival. It was a hot, dusty, exhausting, extremely rewarding weekend!
September
I received the promotion copy of my second book “An Open Window” in
September. It was amazing to hold two published works in my hand and marvel at
how far God had taken us.
October
I did my first signing at an actual bookstore! It was so fun to
set up at Crossroads Book & Music in Sioux Falls and meet with readers. I
got to do an interview with Keloland too, to promote the event! If you missed
it, catch the blurb here:
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We also did more silly, fun things, and celebrated 5 years of
togetherness:
November
November was pretty low-key for us. I learned so much from my
students about thankfulness, and celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the
family. My mom and I also went to see The Cake Boss at the Washington Pavilion!
December
The highlight of December so far has been picking up my sister at
the airport, who had spent the last five months teaching overseas. I got the
first hug J
It’s been a blur of Christmas gatherings, Christmas goodies, and
hours of shopping and wrapping gifts. Ben and I are looking forward to going
home and celebrating our Savior’s birth with both sides of the family—it’s so
convenient that they live in the same town!
So much to be thankful for in the last year! We are looking
forward to all the adventures to come in 2014! Thank you for walking this road
with us.
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