My Great Publishing Adventure!

My contract is signed, author photo snapped, manuscript heading into pre-production, promotion plan is in order and slowly cranking to life. I am excited, thrilled, ecstatic, and yet few people as yet know about it. That in itself is difficult to explain considering I've been working toward this milestone FOREVER, though maybe that's the issue. Although not superstitious, I am cautious enough that I never count my chickens before they hatch, never cross an intersection against the taboo red hand (well maybe on ocassion, but rarely), never announce "potential" good news until it's a done deal that's been wrapped and tied with a bow.

Even so, I think my reluctance to shouting from the rooftops that "my novel is coming, my novel is coming!" at this point in time must be for the truth that I've been a writer far longer than I've been an author. Author, as in published; sentances bound between two covers, neatly shelved amongst the other pretty volumes on a bookstore shelf. Or maybe my slow motion response to declare my own unbelievable and amazing news is due to simple wonder and awe that the dream is at long last cranking out into a space in real life where it will have an actual existence beyond the simple confines of my own head.

Wonder and awe is no exaggeration either. Over these past several days since signing on the dotted line (November 9th - the BIG day), I find myself continually amazed by my own news. So much so that more and more I catch myself while in the midst of conversation, watching tv, at a doctor's appointment, all at once picturing my beautifully finished novel open in a stranger's hands (unlike friends and relatives that are REQUIRED to purchase and read my book) -- unknown fingers turning the pages, eyes following the words, thoughts holding my story.

So, here it starts - or in truth continues - my great publishing adventure. The flag is down, the race is on!