I'm Starting to Get Excited

It happens just a few months prior to the release of every new book. I received my advance review copies of Once Upon A Project yesterday, which my editor was kind enough to overnight to me (and books are heavy, thus expensive to send in that fashion.) All my previous ARCs were bound with plain covers of blue or beige stock paper, with the title of the book, my name, and a notation that it is an advance review copy. But these ARCs were printed with the actual cover, with a big yellow strip across the front identifying it as an uncorrected proof and that it is not for sale, and the back cover that has some text that won't be on the retail copy, like dimensions and the marketing plan. But even though the photo of this woman gives me a case of deja vu (still trying to figure out if I've seen it before), this way it does look . . . well, more like a book.

Anyway, the ARCs have been packed up and mailed to the book clubs and reviewers who responded to my invitation to read it.

For the most part I've abandoned the idea of book signings in favor of drive-by signings that take significantly smaller chunks of time (unless I'm in my hometown or in a busy downtown location, like the Citicorp Center down in Chicago), but I found myself picking up the phone and calling area bookstores to arrange for appearances. Their enthusiasm about hosting signings heartened me.

I'm running a contest to win an ARC on my website, and responses are pouring in.

No one knows what makes a book catch on. It probably has something to do with the fact that there's a gazillion of them out there. (That certainly did the trick for me when I signed my first contract and let my daydreams take over. One trip to Barnes & Noble brought me back to reality, where I've stayed ever since.) But I do hope that at the very least I'll please readers who follow my work with my latest effort and will gain some new readers as well.

And the undeniable sense of excitement continues . . . .