You think when you write a book that potentially you may make money or achieve fame like James Patterson or Jonathan Frazen. You have dreams of being on the New York Times bestseller list or in Oprah’s book club. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both have escaped Cindy (my co-author) and me so far. I’m not sure if we will ever get there, but the journey has been hilarious nonetheless.

After publishing A New Fearless You, I still remember our first request to contribute to a major woman’s magazine.  We were so excited.  We “sort of overlooked” what is was all about.  It was for their Holiday issue and they have a readership of over 5,000,000. 5,000,000 is a lot of readers! We weren’t even deflated when we learned the topic was Holiday cards. More specifically, the question was: What are your thoughts on whether or not you have to send Holiday cards?

C’mon holiday cards and A New Fearless You? They don’t have much in common, but it was our first big break. We eagerly wrote up a short article. But, we never heard back.

On to the next… I could hardly believe it.  We had an inquiry from someone who wanted us to submit a query for Reader’s Digest. Could it get any better?  I think not. It just so happened the topic was parenting and bullies. Now my last book was on parenting, but Cindy gently reminded me this one was not. Ever creative, we came up with a great angle on how bullies and their victim have a lot in common. It was new, it was edgy … we never heard back.

Next, we received a request from the most well-read financial magazine world-wide.  By now, our surprise is replaced with panic since the request came in at 10PM at night. Our comments were due in less than 24 hours.  I still remember calling Cindy to break the news.

“Whatever you’re doing-stop- we have 24 hours to figure out how playing Hide and Seek is connected to overcoming our financial fears.”

And you know what, we scrambled and did it. Since Hide and Seek is all about fear and game playing, we figured we were a shoe in for this article. By this time, I bet you have guessed the punch line — we never heard back.

The requests kept pouring in, but they got more and more bizarre. How do you explain road rage to a child? How should people with SAD stay positive when it is cold outside? Should you bug your teenager to wear a coat in the winter or let it go?

This last request really fried my co-author. As she said she has a million issues with her teenager – getting her to wear a coat doesn’t even make the radar!

We know that every author, every actress, and virtually everybody trying to make it big has to pay their dues. But could the articles at least have something to do with A New Fearless You? I consider myself a “Game Changer”, but I am definitely NOT an expert on some of the topics that have been thrown our way.

We have learned. Boy, have we learned. Sometimes painfully and at other times joyfully. It has been nothing but a wild ride. There recently was a great article about the book in the St. Louis Dispatch. A home run for the good guys. But don’t be surprised if you see us in the National Enquirer as well. You’ll be standing in the grocery checkout line, and there our book will be: How A New Fearless You brought Elvis back to life.

We’re a little more jaded, but when the email requests come in from a nationally known publication, we’re still like a child on Christmas morning. That is an excitement I never hope we lose.

Saying good-bye for now,

Evonne Weinhaus