“You’ve got to celebrate that shit,” said my niece, Kenzie, who I had hired to be my virtual assistant (check out kenziesdesk.com), when I told her my publisher and I had uploaded my memoir to online distributors, the equivalent in this day and age of going to press.

“I did,” I told her, “I made Aaron take me out for pie.” Fitting, as the uploading had taken place on pi day, March 14. “I had chicken pot pie and apple pie,” I told her.

“Fucking awesome,” Kenzie said. “Now make a list of 50 other things to celebrate in connection with the book. I want you to send it to me and print it out and post it on your fridge and look at it every day. And when you achieve something on the list, you celebrate that shit.”

I made a list (just shy of 50 things), and now, about a month later, I’m surprised that so many of the things have already happened:

• Sent a free copy to someone I love. 
• Ordered my first big box of author copies. 
• Fulfilled all my pre-orders. 
• Signed my first copy live. 
• Did a reading at the local YMCA. 
• Sold a copy to someone face to face. 
• Had someone tell me the book meant a lot to them. 
• Had someone agree to write a review and post it online. 
• Read the first online review. 
• Had someone quote a part of the book to me.
• Had a writer I admire promote the book in some way.
• Had someone tell me the book made them cry and specify which parts.
• Had someone tell me the book made them laugh and specify which parts.
• Left a copy of my book in a random place.

Since pi day, I’ve been doing a lot of fretting and obsessing and planning and deep breathing, but not much celebrating. I know Kenzie’s right: it’s important to pause along the way and acknowledge the things we’ve accomplished.

Celebrate comes from the Latin celebrāre to crowd, implying that the act of honoring, extolling, praising, and making known – in short, celebrating – should be done with other people. So, in the spirit of celebration, I’m writing this post and sharing it with you, friends. Huge thanks to those of you who helped me accomplish the things mentioned above. I will update you all periodically as more things are checked off my list.

By the way, here are some other things from the list, not yet accomplished:

• Did a reading at the local library.
• Did a reading at one of the Columbus Metro libraries.
• Did a reading at Gramercy.Did a reading at one of the Barnes & Noble.
• Did a reading at Two-Dollar Radio.
• Crashed an open-mic. (For Kenzie)
• Had a bookstore agree to stock my book.
• Got invited to someone’s writing class to talk about the book.
• Got invited to speak on a panel about the book or about memoir in general.
• Got invited to read at a local literary series.
• Got invited by Ashland University to be part of their summer residency.
• Sold 100 books.
• Sold 500 books.
• Sold 1000 books.
• Got Oprah to put her sticker on my book.
• Had a book club read my book and invite me to a party to talk about it.
• Had the book translated into another language.
• Had an audio version made.
• Got invited to talk about the book on someone’s podcast.
• Got invited to do a radio interview about the book.
• Ran across my book “in the wild” (at a thrift store, yard sale, bookstore or library I’ve never been in, etc.).
• Received a fan letter from someone I don’t know.