Selling My Book

My most recent piece for Yoga Journal is hitting newsstands now. Titled "Shelter from the Storm," the piece interviews six renowned yoga teachers on how to maintain balance during these economically troubled times. Advice ranges from sitting and observing yourself when fear arises, grounding the legs in asana practice to give yourself stability, and more.I'm glad I wrote the piece, because now I need to try to live it. I'm in the midst of selling my book, "Ravenous", a food and eating memoir. I have a wonderful, tenacious agent, and I've gotten strong and positive early feedback. But, and there's always a but, one editor I really wanted to work with, who loves the book, presented it to her publisher, who didn't get it. Another company dropped out of bidding because she thought it would be "too competitive" and they wouldn't be able to bid high enough. Yet, another editor loves it and is trying to shepherd the book through the powers that be to get a yes. And, there are at least six other publishers in the mix.All this is good, right? This is my first book, editors are responding to it positively, my agent deeply believes it will find the right home, and yet... I'm a bucket of nerves. I'm so anxious that I got shingles, again, for the third time in my life. Shingles, in fact, seem to mark my major life events -- I got it when I graduated college, when my boys were young, and now that I'm selling a book.It's easy to write about practicing non attachment, but at times like these, it's much harder to live it. I have put my all into this book, my stories, my efforts, my sweat, and I think it's really a pretty good book, so far  (I've written three out of 18 chapters). Dare I say, I'm even achieving, at moments anyway, a lyricism in my writing, where sentences occasionally sound like music. So it feels like it's me out there in the universe, not a thing, but my very soul. I feel pretty naked, actually.Time to go for a walk. Time to get back to the mat. And time will tell me where Ravenous will land.In the meantime, I hope my shingles go away soon.