Diana’s Comments (group member since Sep 10, 2010)

Diana’s comments from the Q&A with The Welches group.

It's funny, Patrick -- I was really concerned before we published about how "bad" reviews would feel - after all, it's our life! But more than that, I also feel really protective of my siblings, and I feared that I would get really defensive of them if I felt they were being unfairly judged by people.

It turns out that it doesn't bother me AT ALL. I think that I have read the Amazon reviews maybe three times in this past year that our book has been released, and every time I do, I check the one and two star reviews first. I find it really interesting to learn what people felt the book was lacking - and since most of the reviews are so overwhelmingly positive, their kind words would bolster my spirits were I to take some of the bad ones personally.

More than anything, it is so gratifying to received the personal emails from readers who simply love our book and wanted to reach out, and also from those who have had similar experiences and can relate to the book on a more personal level. When folks who were in the foster system or who suffered the death of a parent tell us that our book helped them process their loss, I realize THAT is why we we wrote it in the first place.

Yes, Kitty - don't give up on your novel!!! Perhaps you just haven't found the right collaborator... :)

We were thrilled about the Alex award too, Meghan!!!

As far as our covers go: For the hardcover, we were able to give our input to our publisher Harmony, and we actually vetoed a series of attempts that the design team made to capture our story visually. We received some pretty out-there images -- the most insane one had a cardboard moving box floating on a grid, with four sets of businessmen' legs poking out of it. It made no sense to us!

The front-runner on the hardcover was a white background with four yellow cupcakes on it in various states of crumbling. Though eye-catching, we just knew this cover wasn't right - as Amanda said, "I don't wanna be a cupcake!"

So I went to the bookstore and took some pictures of book covers that I thought captured our story - I was interested in bold colors and fonts, a la Jonathan Safran-Foer's Everything is Illuminated. We were so fortunate that Harmony was willing to take our ideas into account, and we were really happy with the bold yellow cover that came out of the process.

For the paperback, our publisher Three Rivers chose the blue cover with the toast. At first, we were confused as to why we would change the cover after working so hard to get it right the first time! But we rolled with it - we all like the cover, and realize that the pros know what they're doing.

Which one do you like better?

You're so right, Jenna-Lee - we'll leave it up to the pros! Especially since Dan likes to joke that Seth Green should play him -- and me!

Nancye - we're not sure what will happen if a movie gets made of our book -- we are open to any and all of your ideas!

Karen - we're thrilled that the Wilton Library wants us to come!

Hey, Nancye, Sandra Bullock lives in Austin - maybe I'll run into her and pitch it...