It’s Tuesday afternoon, which means it’s high time for some over-sharing (aw yeah, let’s talk about feelings, shall we?). The very first hot-off-the-presses copy of our book arrived via Fed Ex yesterday and it kind of melted my brain a little, I think.
We couldn’t stop beaming at it and saying things like “It’s real! It has pages! It has a cover! It has our names on it!” – but I’d be lying if I said that “crazy-pants excited” was my only response to seeing it there on the floor looking all real and book-like.
I’m also skeered. Really scared actually.
And since I’ve spilled my guts about 14 months of breast feeding, owned up to a bunch of my unglamorous $herdog quirks, and even a copped to a beyond embarrassing teenage moment caught on video with a certain platinum-haired rapper, I’m cool with dropping this whole “jittery sweaty-palmed fear is actively happening” truth bomb. I mean I think I can be described as a lot of things, but I wouldn’t call myself especially brave. I have normal insecurities and self-doubts and all that. The book is a really big thing, so it feels especially scary. And for some reason I thought that pouring my heart out in a little online ditty could be the emotional equivalent to owning it (and perhaps others who’ve struggled with similar things might chime in and make me feel less weird). So here it goes.
I think it’s one thing to keep an online DIY diary for the world to read for free, but somehow putting out a book that then exists in the universe forever feels a lot more intimidating. Sure it’s hardly a high-profile thriller or much anticipated non-fiction, but there’s something crazy about not just being able to toss up an update if there’s a sentence that’s unclear or a typo that sneaks through like we do on the blog. The words that we wrote in that manuscript back in 2011 are printed and soon they’ll be on a shelf. Lots of shelves. And it just feels a lot more weighty and permanent.
Plus people have to pay for it. We worked darn hard to keep the price down, and even though books are returnable or re-sellable (and we got on our publisher’s last nerve to keep that price down) it still feels a lot… bigger. More complicated than a blog post by about 500 percent. I mean it’s 336 pages long with 243 suggestions/tips/projects, so it’s sort of like secretly writing 243 different posts and then publishing them all at once for a fee and then not getting to update or edit them if anything about any of them calls for a little note. Wait, it’s not sort of like that, it’s exactly like that. Maybe that’s why it feels a lot scarier.
It was also pretty intimidating to plan the entire book over three years. Finalizing the outline a year and a half in advance (that’s when we pinned down every last project) and shooting all the projects nearly a year ago (in an epic three week marathon at our house where neither of us remember eating or sleeping) was definitely like nothing we’ve ever done.
It was nerve-wracking in that “what if we regret these color or fabric choices later?” kind of way.
I’ve even had nightmares that there were typos on every page, chunks of blank pages, and even a particularly vivid one about some fictitious magazine that somehow recreated every last one of our projects identically (same exact fabrics and colors!) and scooped us by publishing them before our book came out. Oh yeah, my brain can go a little nuts whirring away while I’m laying in bed thinking of all the ways this endeavor could make me want to crawl under the covers a la Burger:
But this little freak-out fest does have a silver lining. The thing that I feel the most – even stronger that the jitters and self-doubt – is actually gratitude and pride. Not “I’m an author, look at me” pride, just “wow we actually did this” pride. Sometimes I can’t believe that I somehow convinced myself (and John) to put ourselves out there and write a book. Knowing that just like our blog not everyone will love it, and that’s ok. Blogging has taught is that we can’t please all of the people all of the time, so we want to focus on the positive and amazing aspects of this experience. Whenever I’m feeling especially clammy I just remind myself that there hasn’t been a single book on the planet that was beloved by everyone who ever read it (some of my faves have 5-star reviews as well as 1-star ones) so that helps me let go of that “be perfect or you suck!” voice in the back of my mind. Imperfect = real life. Like this crazy seconds-from-a-paw-yank family photo from last week:
So you can find me hiding under the covers with Burger when I get that guts-in-knots feeling, but don’t get me started about how excited I am for the tour. I know meeting you guys will be awesome and I’m literally giddy with excitement to thank you guys in person for the love you’ve shown us. And speaking of the tour, they added four more signings! Woot.
You can see more general tour info on our book page (just click the tour dates button), but here’s the news that we have so far on the new dates:
- RIDGEWOOD, NJ: Friday, November 2, 7pm – Bookends, 211 Ridgewood Ave, book signing. More info here.
- WASHINGTON, DC: Saturday, December 1st, Time TBD – Living Social, 918 F Street, Talk, holiday crafting, and book signing. More details to be released here.
- RICHMOND, VA: Sunday, December 2nd, 1pm – Mongrel, 2924 W. Cary Street, book signing. Store information here.
- CHARLOTTE, NC: Early February. Other details TBD
*There’s also serious talk about an Atlanta stop while we’re nearby in Charlotte, so we’ll keep you posted! And of course other places like Philly & Cali are still being chatted about. We wish we had more control over what cities we’re hitting! It really is all about who invites us where (so it has nothing to do with how big a city is, it’s all about if a certain vendor or bookstore works with the dates/times/etc).
Anyway, thanks to you guys for being so excited and supportive about this whole crazy book journey! It’s kind of a big deal in our little lives, and you’re just the best readers ever. So in return we’re burning the midnight oil to churn out a bunch of projects for ya (even when we’re slipping through 20 cities we’ll be doing our best to blog at our regular pace, with lots of secretly stockpiled makeovers & projects of ours along with house crashing & window shopping adventures a plenty). Not to mention that we have another before-and-after-fest in the hopper for you tomorrow.
Not sure how to end this ramble-fest, so… word to your motha. $herdog out.
Kim T. says
How about St. Louis??? There needs to be a more mid-westy stop, don’t you agree??
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to come out there! Here’s hoping!
xo
s
Jaime says
I’ll see you in DC!
Jill says
Thank you so much for adding a second Richmond signing. I was so bummed that I wouldn’t be able to go to the one during the week. Good luck to you guys, I hope this is one amazing adventure for you.
Randa says
Ditto ditto to what Jill said! I wanted to come to the first Richmond signing but it sold out too quickly… so glad there’s another one! :)
And YES! I “amen” her hope that it’s one amazing adventure for you guys!
Krista says
Thought y’all would find this funny…just for fun I decided to see if the local library had pre-ordered the book (they are sometimes hip to cool new releases). When I did a search for it, the closest result it came up with was “50 Shades of Grey”…Don’t worry though, I am ordering my own copy! Can’t wait!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! So funny!
xo
s
Angel says
LOVE the idea of a Philly stop – I would 100% come and bring friends and buy a book, if that helps at all.
Lisa Nowak says
I’m so glad your coming to Ridgewood, NJ! Can’t wait to meet you guys!!!!!
Alexa @ Southern Living, Our Way says
Woohooo Queen City!! Can’t wait to see y’all!
Sarah says
Any chance of a London stop? Huge congratulations to you both – can’t wait to read it!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, we’d love that!
xo
s
Analise says
While I definitely can’t totally understand the huge-ness of this whole project for you guys — An actual book! With a cover and pages, that you can buy from Amazon! Holy cannoli! — just know that we’re ALL rooting for you. We love your blog, your family, and your ability to keep it real (“word to your motha … $herdog” — I lol’d.), day after day. You can do it! Woooo!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Analise!
xo
s
Allison says
CHARLOTTE!!!! YAY!!!!!
Laura C says
don’t be skeered, and come to Nashville!! I love you guys.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks Laura! We’d love to!
xo
s
Christina says
dude, I’m so very excited that you added Charlotte to your book tour!! We’re moving in December (a few days before Christmas) so I will definitely be there in February. I think I’ll hold off on the pre-order just so I can buy a copy in person from y’all.
I hope you plan on visiting one (or several) of the gazillion awesome places to eat while in town. And stopping by IKEA. Maybe you should plan to stay for several days. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Christina! We love Charlotte so we can’t wait!
xo
s
Joanna says
So happy to hear the mention of Philly! I have already ordered my copy and I can’t wait to get it! I read your blog every day but comment too often but I want to let you know that you have lots of support in this big undertaking!
heather says
Don’t be skeered! You guys are inspirational and I know you’re book will be amazing. I’m so excited to get a copy and have you sign it :)
Patti says
Aww Sherdog, I think it’s perfectly normal to be sweating this! It would be weird if you were like, ‘meh … we put out a book, holla’ … you have everything to be so proud of! You’ve built such a great little thing here with the best commenters too. I learn so much from them too! It’s the Khan Academy of DIY!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Patti! We definitely have the best commenters ever!
xo
s
Christy Rowley says
Everytime you post about the book, I get excited all over again! I can’t wait for my copy to come in the mail.
It’s always scary to put your work out there for the world to judge, but at least you have a little peace of mind knowning that all of your readers are over-the-moon excited for you, and, shoot, you have A LOT of readers. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Christy!
xo
s
Jenna says
CHARLOTTE!!! YAYYYY!!! Can’t wait!
Janke says
Looking at the map of book signings makes me want to live in the US…
Any chance you’re coming over to good old Germany? Not to intimdate you with your ranking on Amazon.de but you’re waaaay up on there, too. :)
I’m soso excited for November! Almost there!!
YoungHouseLove says
Ahh, that’s so exciting! We’d love to end up over there!
xo,
s
Cathy Wolfram from Adore Your Place says
Hi Sherry, What an exciting time for you both! You & John have been so kind to me during my blog launch and such an inspiration. I am looking forward to meeting you both Nov. 2 in Ridgewood,New Jersey. Don’t believe what you have heard about Jersey it is really quite pretty hehehe.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha I’m actually born & raised in Patsippany so I love The Jerz!
xo,
s
Carmel says
Bummed I can’t make to Cincy this weekend – darn kids and their darn double header soccer games ;) Nerves = normal – your book’s gonna rock – no worries. PS – in case you haven’t heard – you must have Skyline chili and Graeters Ice Cream – you can thank me later.
YoungHouseLove says
Mmm, sounds awesome!
xo,
s
Elizabeth @Food Ramblings says
See you on December 2nd!
Kayla says
I love your blog and I am sure I will love the book just as much if not more! There is something about having a how-to guide right there in your hands–so I just pre-ordered the book! Can’t waitto see it in person!!
Chana says
You guys should come to Winnipeg! Haha. It’s only a couple hours north of Minneapolis (seven, give or take).
Christina says
Just so you know, i would gladly fork over any amount of money for your book! And then if I lost it or it got stolen or whatever, I would pay for it again!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks!
xo,
s
Jenny says
As they say, the best things in life don’t come easy (or, in my world, without anxiety!). Pretty sure (try 100% sure) the book is going to rock so many peoples socks off! Y’all are awesome!
Jennifer says
Hey Sherry! The fact that you are so real and open is what makes your blog so successful. Thanks for sharing! I am sure that if each of the millions of your readers reassured you, you would still be scared…who wouldn’t be! But WE your readers know the book will be a success! Whenever you feel scared, just order kielbasa in perfect German to regain some confidence ;). I hope I get to see you in Houston!!
Sarah W says
It’s understandable to be overwhelmed by something around the same time you actually accomplish it. I think the stress of working toward a goal sometimes hits us hardest when the pressure–not counting the book tour for you guys–is off. As someone who’s dealt with anxiety problems my whole life, I know what it’s like to lie awake and imagine the worst case scenario, but that’s just your body’s way of preparing you for a challenge.
You and John are already loved by so many people that no matter what could possibly go wrong–typos, bad reception, scoops, etc–you’ll still have a giant community of people who will support you. You’ve been kind enough to share so much of yourselves with us that we’ll hardly be turned off by a misplaced letter or two.
Good luck with your tour, and I can’t wait to see you in Toronto!
Susan says
Oh, you are going to Grand Cayman? That’s our fav vacay spot. I think we’ve been there 14 times. I hope you all are staying for a nice relaxing week and not just heading home.
The seven mile beach there is perfect. Great for swimming, snorkeling right off the beach. Your kiddo will love it. The condos are the best places to stay. Hotels nice, but condos are more homey and a better value. Nothing is cheap there though when it comes to lodging. But it’s safe and beautiful.
Hopefully, I will be able to stop in West Elm when you are here in Houston to say hello.
Venia says
Come on out to Vegas!
lesli devito says
Sherry, I am proud of you for owning the part that most people don’t think about…and now that you have spilled it…go clean it up, put a=on a purty dress, that I sincerely hope you spend too much money on and celebrate!!! You whole heartedly deserve every inch of your success, you worked literally physically, mentally and emotionally for it and by God, it is YOURS (and of course Johns and Claras and Burgers) to have a Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat kind of moment!!!
JOB WELL DONE!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha thanks Lesli!
xo,
s
Ashley S says
I’m thrilled for you guys! I’ve been reading for about a year now and just pre-ordered your book. I’m sure it’s nerve wracking but you guys have tons of people rooting for you. I saw the michaels giveaway for your book and told my husband (he hears about you guys like we are bff’s that chat everyday) :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks!!
xo,
s
CrayolaJW says
Don’t be scared! I seriously admire how much you are go-getters! I hope that you can really enjoy the process and as someone that reads your blog pretty much daily from across the pond over in Europe all I can say is I think you guys are great, fear not!
Cheryl says
Please come to Michigan! The B&N in Rochester or the B&N on Hall Rd. in Macomb County. Lot’s of DIY’ers in these parts!!! Pretty pretty please!!! :)
selena says
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! You heard me screaming, “Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte!!!” I will be there. Can’t wait to get my copy and if Clara’s there, I want her autograph, too! I will be watching for the date and location! I’m so proud of/for you all! Congratulations!
Clarissa says
Congrats on all the success!
BTW – I was flipping through Redbook magazine with Connie Britton on the cover and can swear your picture from your book with the ceramic rhino made it in there as a design idea for your living space. I thought it was from my favorite DIY duo but it wasn’t your normal dining room shelf color…now I guess that’s why!
Megan B. says
Boy you miss one day of YHL! I am soooo excited for your book. I don’t think you guys have anything to be nervous about. I am sure the book will be amazing….which is why I have multiple copies pre-ordered!
I am also super excited that you will have a stop in NJ!! I can’t wait to get my hands on your book and to meet you. I will be the awkward, star-struck, 30 year old with her husband and baby boy in tow!
Jessica in WI says
Let me just say, you guys are amazing! Not just that, but so real at the same time and hearing that you are so nervous about the book just makes me love you guys more. I read you guys every day and am super excited to see you in Chicago for the book signing!! I think to myself “Of COURSE everyone is excited as heck that the book is out!!” but I can understand your trepidation. Such an accomplishment. I think seeing everyone in person, lining up for blocks to see YOU guys would almost scare me more than the book being out….but don’t think too much about it, we will all be nervous too :) I am trying to come up with something unique, funny, witty, casual, and endearing to say when you sign my book. Any suggestions?? :) Sending good vibes from WI–Jessica
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, just say hi! The awkwardness that we out out will totally put you at ease. Haha!
xo,
s
Alissa says
Woot woot a Jersey stop! My excitement level is higher than Snooki’s pouf and Teresa’s credit card bills! Can’t wait to check out the book for inspiration for our 1950’s ranch!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah!
xo,,
s
Amy @ a new old house says
GAH- I’m so excited you’ve added a NJ stop on the tour! That’s my hubby’s b-day weekend, and guess where I’m taking him!!! (hee hee! <- giddy!)
Thanks for always being so open about the excitement & the jitters- it's so refreshing to see that you're real people behind this awesome blog.
Gabbi says
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited that you guys are going to be in NJ now!!! Woot woot! :)
Ashley S. says
Well I cant wait for the book! I know it will be exhausting but lady (dude and dudette) you must come to Atlanta!! I live in Alabama and would definitely come to a book signing in ATL.
Caitlin says
My Mom, sister, and I are SO excited about the book- it is going to be great! Just wish you were heading to Detroit for a visit- you’d love our city! When in doubt, take a Tylenol pm and sleep well :)
Kristin L. says
First of all, as a certifiable commitmentphobe, I totally feel ya, but you guys have tons of support — you can’t disappoint us! Secondly, I don’t know how I missed that video of FANatic, but that was truly amazing. And third, I can’t wait to see you guys at Mongrel!
Becca says
I couldn’t be more thrilled about your book — your blog has inspired me so many times and I know the book will do the same! Who can I talk to in San Francisco to get you guys out here for a visit so I can tell you in person?!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Becca! Here’s hoping we end up out there!
xo,
s
Kathryn says
Oh my gosh you are coming to CHARLOTTE???? Yay!!! I read you blog over lunch, and I almost choked on my chicken pot pie! Eeeee!! See you in Feb. :)
Tina says
So excited you guys added BookEnds in Ridgewood, NJ to your tour! Love your blog and looking forward to meeting you both!
Erin Jacob says
I stumbled across your blog about a month ago looking for some inexpensive tips to change/decorate my new home….and now I am hooked. Your projects are fun…I am also a sucker for a great graphics print, and I am inspired to do even more in our new home. I reserved your book….looking forward to the package in the mail next month!
Christina says
I’m so excited to see you on Saturday in Cincinnati! The book looks awesome and I can’t wait to get it! Just to be clear, can I buy a copy of it at your event this weekend even though it doesn’t technically come out until November?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, every event will have books for sale – even the early ones!
xo,
s
Lauren says
I am so excited for you guys! I can’t wait to get my copy of your book!
Amanda says
congrats on the book! and a Philly date would be wonderful!