Wow!

I know it's not that catchy of a posting title but it's apropos to the news I got on Friday from my editors. Aside from their sincere appreciation of my completion of the copyedits and their support of my clean refrigerator, I got news that the I have a growing number of fans on the sales and marketing teams. While there is nothing better than having a fan, it is especially heartening to have fans that work in publishing and READ and SELL books for a living! From a personal perspective, it is rewarding to know you wrote a story that touches people, from a broader perspective, what is better than having people like your book that are expert in selling and marketing? Not much.

There is lots of good news on the marketing front that I will share as it comes together (I'm not being a tease -- okay -- I am) but suffice it to say my book is being very well taken care of and I believe there are going to be lots of great ways some of you eager readers will be able to get a taste of The Last Bridge before it hits bookstores in July. (See, I got you interested didn't I?)

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to have a good number of people involved with the book and while there is a real satisfaction to being alone in a room with your story and the characters, it is amazing to share it and participate in the collaboration that takes your words on a page to flap, marketing and catalog copy, book covers (wait until I tell you about how beautiful mine is!) sales pitches, websites, etc. Every person that touches it enhances it.

Last night I was thinking about how the story is almost a living thing, it changes and grows as it moves toward publication to ultimately land in the hands of readers who will again, through their interpretation and reaction, give it a whole new shape and form. At the risk of sounding like I'm a teenage cast member from High School Musical -- it's pretty thrilling.

Okay -- I'm going to linger in this moment for a little bit longer -- then I have to get back to work. Just to be clear I mean work, work. Writing, for all of its' challenges has never been work, only joy.