Launching a book is similar to birthing a baby. There has been much anticipation, preparation, fretting, planning, and hoping.
It is a new beginning with fresh possibilities and it also seems overwhelming!
Thuhang Tran, my co-author, and I met in a coffee shop in November 2016. We had never met before. Her personal story captivated me and we put together a plan to write a book about her unrelenting challenges related to polio, war, death of her father, Communist policies, poverty, famine level food rationing, and immigrating to the U.S.
Thuhang’s story inspired me because she continually reinvented herself. I have never faced the type of insurmountable obstacles she overcame. Her story empowers each of us to face our problems head on.
In the final 30 day stretch before the book launch, I had many grandiose plans about how to market the book. Then my son tore his ACL while skiing and needed surgery and a Mom to take care of him. My daughter arrived home for Spring Break along with her boyfriend—they had broken up on the flight; the two of them spent 9 days with us post-breakup. Then my husband needed shoulder surgery. While taking care of my son in Seattle, my kitchen flooded due to a leaky valve. Water traveled down hallways and into a bedroom looking for an escape route.
Yet all these challenges I faced pale in comparison to the situations Thuhang encountered. I treat my problems like a walk in the park compared to Thuhang crawling at ground level for 17 years.