Melanie Gideon Quote

As you say in the Introduction, your book is a conversation—personal and universal. Was it difficult to write the personal knowing it would be very public? What does your family think about the book?
The key to writing a book about your family is not to let them read it, not one little bit of it, until you are done. Then you must endure the agony of sitting on the couch and watching them while they read, trying to parse every furrowed brow, every puzzled expression, every laugh or beat of silence in the places where they are supposed to be laughing. You should be prepared to pay them off.  For my son, I had a Game Stop gift card, which I was ready to hand over if he had any objections.  With my husband—I was ready to pay him off, too, not with a Game Stop gift card, but with a pitch that went something like, “Look this is a love story, it may not seem that way to you right now, right at this moment, but give it a few months or so.”

I’m happy to say no exchanges of gift cards or pitches were made in the selling of this book to my family.