Happy Friday!

The countdown for PROVIDENCE is over! It is officially out in the world searching for readers to connect with.

I kind of checked out of the world on Tuesday, the official release day. I did early and late tweets and a couple of posts, but for the most part I avoided talking about it with people. I felt there was a level of expectation of excitement on my part that I couldn’t possibly live up to.  I didn’t want to disappoint people or seem ungrateful for this amazing opportunity I’m living.

The truth is though, this was not a one day event for me. The path from writing your story to holding the completed book is long and eventful. I had seen the book in galley form and in pdf form. I had read the jacket copy and had seen the cover art. I had read reviews aplenty. I had already even taken part in some marketing efforts. So I wasn’t filled with excitement on Tuesday. What I was filled with was gratitude.

That feeling of gratitude continues to fill my week. (As in – tears rolling down my cheeks as I think about this.) I am so grateful for my friends and family who always treated the idea of my manuscript becoming a book as a “when it happens” not an “if it happens.” I’m so thankful to my editor, Jackie Mitchard, who loved the story enough to get behind it and offer me this amazing opportunity. When I received the contract and immediately felt like I was drowning in a sea of legal terms, I met Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. I am so thankful for that! Karen now represents me.  My gratitude extends to the reading and writing community of people who go out of their way to help each other. So many other authors have plugged my book and helped me (at least attempted to help me) learn about social media and marketing. The number of people who are, quite frankly, complete strangers to me who have taken the time to blog or review my book is amazing to me.

So although I may not be able to muster the level of expected excitement now, the gratitude is bottomless.

Lisa

(BTW if you really wanted to see me excited, you should have been here the day I received the offer of publication. I smiled so much for the next 24 hours, my face actually hurt the next day!)