Karen DeBonis, author
@KarenDeBonis
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GROWTH: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived-- out now! @nytimes @huffpost @thisisinsider @newsweek .com @today .com #peoplepleaser
New York, USA
Joined October 2016
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Pinned Tweet
Every author has to have one...the no-show book talk. It's a bummer.
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At my library book talk, the librarian showed me my book she'd purchased and catalogued. She apologize for not being able to shelve it because there is a WAIT LIST. Someone in another library already requested it and they got first dibs.
A WAIT LIST. For MY BOOK.
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I'm blown away by the response to my no-show book talk photo. I'm working my way through your replies, trying to heart everyone, even if I can't thank you properly. THANK YOU.
Maybe I won't drop out of Twittex after all. Maybe the writing community I've loved is still here. ❤️
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Guys- I have to call it quits for the night. Your support has been extraordinary. Your purchases have pushed my book into the top 100 in one category and top 200 in 2 categories. I will try to acknowledge every comment tomorrow. My heart is full. ❤️
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We met my son Matt at a comedy show last night for my early birthday present. This was how he greeted me. I thought my heart, already so full of love from this beautiful community, might burst.
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I dropped this off to my local NPR station hoping to get on their Author interview show. Fingers crossed!
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I'm going to need much bigger sunglasses for this level of fame. 😎
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Tweeps: You are the first to know! I am going to be a published AUTHOR.
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@TheReelRandom
That's so beautiful. I thought of that thread, too. Vulnerability connects us.
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My name may never be up in lights again, so I had to get this photo. If it happens elsewhere, I'll don my evening wear.
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@Regina_Griffin
If I'm ever highly successful, that will be my plan. Hell, that's going to be my plan anyway.
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See this person? She is an unpublished author. But not for long.
And that’s all I can say for now, other than Holy Shit!!!
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Guess which national newspaper I was on the phone with yesterday, because they want to PUBLISH MY ESSAY???!! The New York Times! Oh yeah baby!!
@nytimes
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@hwinkler4real
Thank you, Henry!!! I know you'll pack the rooms on your book tour and I so appreciate your support!
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This is the child who, leading up to and following his brain tumor diagnosis at 11, wilted in the heat, hated handyman chores, became claustrophobic, and couldn't follow simple directions. He turns 35 today. My heart is bursting. ❤️❤️❤️
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@jillian_rigert
It's so interesting about this photo. I believe the response shows that vulnerability connects our humanity.
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OMG! Just found out my Tiny Love Story is in the print
@nytimes
today. Section A3!! I gotta find me a copy or two dozen!!
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My first bookstore reading yesterday. Phew! I got that one under my belt. BTW- if you need a last-minute gift for today, GROWTH might be it. Note the definitive word in the subtitle--"survived."
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Last year, I was honored to have a 100-word story published in The NY Times’s Tiny Love Stories column. Then, a couple of months ago, I was notified that my story—“My Son, the Homeowner—would appear in a book anthology the Times planned to release by yea…
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What’s happening? Twitter asks. This is what’s happening, My beautiful tweeps!!
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Ok, you compassionate, funny, and supportive people have convinced me.
I'll do a virtual book talk here on Twittex. Tomorrow. When I've figured out how to do it and what time, I'll let you know.
Thank you for inspiring me toward personal GROWTH.
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Forty years married to this guy as of Sunday. I'll take 40 more. ❤️❤️
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GROWTH is a completed, 80,000-word memoir about the struggle to parent my young son through his downward spiral from an undiagnosed brain tumor and his twenty-year recovery, challenging everything I believed about motherhood.
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"I am thrilled to attach the materials requested."
So begins the email I just sent to an agent who requested my full ms. It explains why I haven't been here much. And, now, if you don't mind, I'll shower and workout and perhaps spend some time in the garden today.
See ya soon
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I just admitted to myself and disclosed to my husband that most mornings, I am teary with the task ahead--to continue on this path to book publication. It takes a toll. Every day.
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Even after forgetting to buy him an anniversary card AGAIN, he still loves me. Even after 41 years.
I knew he was a keeper from the start. I'm so glad I was right.
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Good morning
#5amwritersclub
! It's been ages since I've been here, but I haven't come empty-handed (for those of you writing books). Today, from 9-5, agents and editors will be tweeting their wish lists at
#MSWL
. Maybe I'll see you again there. Good luck to all of us!!
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I WAS feeling like crap today, but now I'm miraculously better!!
Doesn't this make you want to come to my book talk with
@lac30
on Saturday, Nov 18?
Details here:
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This is the real me. After 5 16-hour days getting my manuscript ready to send to my publisher. My house is a wreck. I am numb. This is why I’m so behind on Twitter, I’ll never catch up. Life. I am so grateful.
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Happy Anniversary to us! Thirty-seven years today. I wish I could tell you the secret of a happy marriage, but there is no secret. Just compatibility, hard work, luck, prayers. And no thing is too little for a thank you. "Thanks for posting this, Dear." "You're welcome, Sweetie."
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You know how, as a parent, what you want most for your child is happiness? Look at the smile on my son's face. His girlfriend said yes!!
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There’s nothing like being married to a nice guy. For 40 years. ❤️ I got these early- last Friday. He said it was an early Valentines Day present, and for having agents start to notice me. 😍
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To this incredibly supportive community: you made me laugh and cry (oh how I've cried!) and stare at my screen in disbelief. I think we broke X and recreated it as an uplifting place to hang out. I'm trying to acknowledge every single comment. I see you. I hear you. I thank you.
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Now that my memoir-Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived-- is going to be published, my son Matt, a twenty-yr
#braintumor
survivor, discussed our story being out in the world. We're both nervous. Will you read it when it's out?
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Today, I'll send the once-and-for-all FINAL version of my memoir to my publisher so it can go to print.
On May 2, the world will know my story.
Holy shit.
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I'm married. Have been for 36 years, to the same guy. Which also means I'm old, (at least older than you might think, regardless of how nice my headshot turned out). SO DON'T WASTE MY TIME DM-ing ME TO ASK HOW I'M DOING TODAY!!
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I had surgery today. My EXCELLENT care team were nurses: an Asian American male, a Muslim woman in a head scarf, a black woman with neck tattoos. The docs were a dark-skinned man in a turban and a white guy with a foreign accent. DIVERSITY MAKES US BETTER, especially me today.
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Holy moly. I just got a request for a partial a few hours after I sent my queries. I'm really in the game now!!
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GROWTH: A Mother, her Son, and the Brain Tumor they Survived is a completed, 76,000-word memoir about a woman’s naive expectations of motherhood and her inability to assert herself, even when her young son’s survival depends on it.
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Earlier today, I tweeted that I had severe abdominal pain and wondered if it was just my
#IBS
. Nope. Appendicitis. Surgery tonight. ☹️ this was where I spent this beautiful spring day.
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This is weird to share on Twitter, but I've made so many friends here, it seems weird not to share. Two days ago, my mom died, just hours after my husband's uncle died. Both sudden. We had just arrived at our vacay place for the week. If you don't see me for awhile, you know why.
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Really, I think I'm part hermit, I enjoy being alone so much. Anyone else?
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Sometimes when I start my day, I just have to cry. Like now. The path to book publishing is grueling and demanding and overwhelming. Promoting myself isn't my style. There's so much I want to do and not enough time. So I cry. I get it out of my system. And I go on with my day.
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I'm doing the ugly happy cry over this review of Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived.
In Hippocampus Magazine, no less. Holy moly.
via
@hippocampusmag
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I’m re-recording a short video on my website and I got all made up and fixed my hair and I have nowhere to go and it’s raining. So I did a selfie. Hi!
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Another morning cry about the grueling process of querying, pitching, building platform, getting my frickin book published, while fighting my chronic health issues most hours of every hour.
May I vent for a moment?
Oh, I just did? Thanks for listening. Now, on with my day.
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I did a thing!!! I queried my first agent! What a surreal, joyous, intimidating, hopeful, scary moment. I want to remember this moment as the last of the "before" moments--before my name became known, before I became a published author, before Chapter 1 of my new adventure.
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A month from now, my memoir hits the shelves. That reality is scary, and my final marketing push has been exciting, but today I'm sad. Imposter syndrome is hitting hard.
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Email from the
@nytimes
: "We have partnered with Artisan Press to publish a book of Tiny Love Stories. Of the hundreds of Tiny Love Stories we have published, we plan to include roughly half of them in the book, including yours." HOT DAMN AND HOLY MOLY !!!
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Checking out of the conference center for
#hippocamp22
. What a kind, generous, talented group of writers. I am so honored to be here. See you next year!
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Oh, how I wish I had room in my profile to add "Words forthcoming in
@HuffPost
, thanks to
@noahmichelson
!!"
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The Columbus Book Festival last weekend had about 33K attendees! How did people find my table in the huge Indie Author Alley tent? My husband handed these out at the entrances:
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Wow! It's on sale! I think you guys did this today with your purchases!
Buy it while it's hot. 🔥You'll save $10!!
Writing is such a beautiful art. I’m in awe of anyone who can bravely write and get their work published.
I’m so sorry but keep up your inspiring craft. Our world needs beauty
May everyone who reads your post buy your book! It’s on Amazon for less than $10!
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@KarenStrine3
I know. I'm in the company of famous authors. That makes me famous by association, right? 😂
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Here's my do-over now that I've had coffee: Good morning
#5amwritersclub
!! (said with a smile.) I'm super excited as my first essay appearing in a literary publication comes out today. I'm also nervous as hell!!
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Well, this is a nice thing to wake up to: The
@Sunlight_Press
will be publishing my essay "Why I Hide My Truth" on Monday, Aug 20!
#5amwritersclub
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Tally for my latest batch of queries:
- 2 apologetic rejections, one stating: "This is a really smart and compelling query letter."
- 1 request for my proposal 4 hours after I queried
- 1 request for a full 4 days after I queried.
Is this for real????
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My 2019 NYT Tiny Love Story is the gift that keeps on giving--in the 2020 anthology and now, the 2023 calendar. Soon, you can read the FULL story in my memoir Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived. Preorder here:
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I canceled my Blue Check subscription. I'll hang around here for a while to see what happens but I refuse to fund the head twit's agenda, whatever the hell it is.
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12 queries sent last night and this morning. I'm SO emotional. It could be fear, excitement, or exhaustion (I've been awake since 2AM). Does querying do this to you?
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I came across the final Facebook post my friend made before he went to the hospital, then the ICU, then the morgue. He had had a fever for two weeks at that time. He couldn't have imagined it would end like this. None of us who loved him could.
#covid19sucks
#coronavirussucks
.
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In the memoir-writing business, "final" is never "final," until the book sits on a shelf.
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When I was pursuing an agent for my memoir, I tried to cull my Twitter following so I followed fewer people than followed me. I didn't always like how that felt. Now that I'm with a small press, if someone follows me, and they don't seem obnoxious, I'll follow back. Authenticity!
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I'll be at a library garden day today. Anyone who stops at my author table will get a wildflower seed packet with my book QR code. My book title: Growth. Pretty clever, huh?
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I have a big, tiny thing going to happen: I'm going to have my second Tiny Love Story in the
@nytimes
next Tuesday, Nov 9.
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Holy moly!! The Murdaugh trial? The fall of their dynasty? An Amazon "Editor's Pick Best Nonfiction???" I think you have nothing to fear, Mandy. You will pack those book talks. I preordered!
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I am thrilled to have this piece in
@thisisinsider
, so thoughtfully edited by
@rosadona
. Did you know "benign" is a misnomer when it comes to brain tumors?
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I am so humbled and honored by the response to my NYTimes essay. It's 100 words that packed a punch, struck a chord, hit a nerve--all those horrible cliches that I NEVER use.
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Megan, you are the best!! ❤️ Just wait until your book becomes a reality. It's going to rock this jukejoint and shake this earth. Such is the power of choosing love, right?
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When her eight-year-old son begins to exhibit increasingly bizarre behaviors, a happily married mother of two must meet the overwhelming demands of motherhood and wrestle with her fear of conflict if she and her son are to survive.
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Today, I’d like you all to know about this award-winning book by my friend
@evorbachcollins
. It launches today. It is tender and funny and heartbreaking. Can we give her some love? ❤️
Love in the Archives: a patchwork of true stories about suicide loss
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#4amwritersclub
, anyone??? I'm rarely up this early anymore, but you know how it is when you can't sleep BECAUSE YOU GOT ANOTHER REQUEST FOR A FULL!!!
How's your morning going?
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Just got my full book layout from the publisher. I'm afraid to open it. It's too...real, and real is scary.
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We met in college, graduated together in 1980, tied the knot two years later. Now married 40 years. We had some rough years and some VERY rough years, as you'll read in my memoir next year. And we're so glad we stuck it out. What a privilege a long, long-term relationship is.
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MY BOX OF ARCS JUST ARRIVED AND I’M SO NERVOUS I COULD PUKE.
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Borrowed a copy of a friend's Modern Love section of the Sunday New York Times to see what the "Tiny Love" essays look like. They are tiny, indeed- just 100 words. My Tiny Love essay will join them today, in the online edition, That's HUGE!!! I will be sure to share the link!!
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WE TESTED NEGATIVE FOR COVID!! My son who tested positive--a "breakthrough infection"--still has mild symptoms, so I'm sure he'll recover easily.
And I will be returning to mask-wearing indoors.
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How many times did you think your manuscript was REALLY, REALLY ready this time before you realized it wasn't?
Asking for a friend. 🙄
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From my son for a special occasion. Holy moly. There are definite perks of having adult kids!! ❤️
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This is what I do to take the sting out of my query rejection emails- print them out and make roses! Sadly, I now need a bigger vase. 🤣
#amquerying
#memoir
#literaryagents
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My first sip of wine yesterday in 5 weeks pre-and post-op. It tasted every bit as good as I remembered!
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I hugged my son yesterday!! It's been over a year. He's still ultra-cautious, so we were both masked and turned our heads away, but I hugged my 34-year-old baby!
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Hey friends in the NY State Capital District--
Tomorrow, Sunday, July 23, I'll be discussing my memoir Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived at 2 pm at the Vischer Ferry General Store in Rexford.
I'll be selling and signing books. Hope to see you there!
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After knee replacement surgery, I've progressed from walker to cane to my own two hobbling feet. My needy joint makes me feel old, but someday, the progression will be reversed: feet to cane to walker. So, for today, I'm grateful for whatever mobility I can muster.
#cnftweet
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2 yrs ago, my ms was FINAL. Then FINAL FINAL. Then I changed the name and that was FINAL until it was FINAL FINAL FINAL.
Last week, my publisher was sending my FINAL ARC to the printer. But there was another FINAL and another.
Today, there is no more FINAL. It is simply BOOK.
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@MandyMatney
I wish you all the best, Mandy! Keep showing up. Any event gets you on people's radar, and they may show up the next time. Give us a link to your book!
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They're at it again. Every year, these lilies of the valley push through the blacktop in our driveway, determined not to be held back by doing the hard thing. Sometimes, you just can't hold back GROWTH.
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