The Moment That Makes It All Worth It

So--
If you'll all allow me a quick moment of self-indulgence . . . I'd like to (humbly and in a very ladylike fashion) tell you all that my very first novel is now OUT IN PRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, for anyone who's ever struggled through the ins and outs of the publishing world, even for a minute, you know a little bit of what I'm feeling right now.

After first writing my novel; then editing it; re-writing it; deciding that I hated every word of it, scrapping the entire thing, starting from scratch, recovering an earlier draft and editing THAT, and then finally deciding it was something worth being called a book, I then got my first eye-opening moment of "you mean I have to do all of THAT just to be a real, honest-to-God author??!?!?!" when I started researching how to get published online.

So then I resigned myself to the mulitple thousand queries and query letters, editing THOSE, and then dealing with rejection after rejection after rejection from every agent I sent them out to.

Anyone feeling my frustration yet???

To say that I was excited when I finally got that fateful email from Solstice Publishing saying that they wanted my novel would be the understatement of the century. I literally danced around my living room for a solid hour. Then; when the e-book version of my book came into being, I thought I'd never felt more accomplished in my whole life.

Oh, but now . . .

Now that there is a tangible, read-able, smell-able book version of the novel that consumed my life for so long . . . .

Guys--there are just NO words.

There is only dancing like an idiot around one's living room, screaming nonsensical syllables and feeling completely on top of the world.

<3