SALLY BARNES

For months now people who have published books have described to me the sheer ecstasy of seeing their books for the first time and holding them in their hands like a precious carving hewn from sheer hard work and imagination. Alas, Laughed till they Cried arrived without ceremony and I wasn’t ready to give the books a proper welcome. When the phone rang one recent morning at 6:53 a.m. both my husband and I groaned. In our experience, good news arrives at civilized hours—b

What all started as a bit of a lark has developed into a real, honest to goodness novel. No one is more surprised than me! As my first novel is rolling off the presses, I emerge from the whole experience with a new and profound respect for those who make their living writing books and trying to get them published. Writing it was the easy part. Getting a book published these days with the publishing business undergoing major change and agents and publishers fighting to sur