Guess What Happens This Year?

My book comes out. That's what happens this year.

Gasp!

I know - I can hardly believe it myself. But it's the first thing I thought when midnight struck on December 31 and the New Year rolled in.

Every time people ask me when my book comes out, I still say, "Fall of next year," almost on automatic. Then I have to correct myself: "No, no, I mean September. It comes out in September." Then my eyes bug out, and I have to take deep breaths. Because that means, months. I will get to hold my book in my hand in MONTHS. Other people will get to read it even sooner than that. 

I'm trying not to think about it too much.

*resists the impulse to go to goodreads.com and see if Always Neverland is up there yet*

Besides, it's not like I don't have plenty of stuff to do before then. Plenty of book-marketing related stuff. Though it is about that time of year, these are not New Year's resolutions. They are goals, and I will now share them with you: :-)

1. Blog more regularly. (Yes, I know that I've been neglectful in the past few months. *hangs head bashfully*) Goal = once a week, or four times a month.
   
2. Create other pages besides just these posts, so it feels like a real website, not just a blog. (Must write a bio...must write a real bio and not just blab about myself to my editor's assistant over the phone, which is what happened last fall...)
   
3. Join either Twitter or Tumblr. I know everybody's on "the Twitter" as Betty White calls it in You Again. But how about Tumblr? I hear good things. I see pretty things, like pretty pretty pics and cool quotes. That may be the place for me.
   
4. Try not to bite my nails every time I think about what the cover will look.....Ahem, okay, maybe this doesn't need to be on the list, but it's a good reminder. :-)

There we go: quality tasks that will do their part to distract me from the upcoming EVENT. And now that I've posted them, I'm three times as likely to actually accomplish them. Hurray!

Here Comes the Sun...

Today looked like this:


After a week of snow (which was much needed on ski slopes), seeing the sun again was glorious.
I played hooky for a whole two and a half hours.

Then, I tore myself away from the sunshine and got some very important items off my plate:

1. Went to the post-office and mailed the signed contract for the IP project I have been working on. Hurrah! (I actually got this email on Monday, but after all the car trouble, I was waiting for a day when the roads would be clear. No mishaps today.)
2. Finished reading my manuscript outloud. For those who don't remember that post, it's the last step in my step-by-step self-revision process. And to be honest, it was a lot of fun! I did voices for the different characters. I got into the emotions of each scene. I giggled at my own jokes (again). I made notes on all the things I wasn't sure about, but all in all, I recognized that the manuscript was as good as I could get it by myself. So, I....
3. Sent manuscript off to my editor and her assistant! Double hurrah!! :D There's a part of me that's nervous, and there's another part of me that feels like this is a very solid draft. There will be things wrong with it, of course, but nothing that can't be fixed. I'm reasonably good at revision. (The more problematic thing is if I don't match the vision that my editor had in mind. That's the trouble with IP projects. Even with the plot in front of you, you never know what you're going to get.) Mainly, I feel like I've accomplished something significant this week. I totally deserve the upcoming weekend.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is like today: