I finished up the writing at the end of last month. I attached the manuscript to an email to my publisher, breathed in a deep rush of air, and hit "send". It's out there now, in a kind of author limbo, a reality only to myself, said publisher, and my husband, who read it and loved it.
When you finish writing a book that became your close friend for several months (several caffeine-fueled, sometimes draining, mostly exhilarating months) and you send it off, you loosen your grasp on that child's hand, sending him off forever into the world, no longer your baby, embarking upon the vastness of the world of readers, reviewers, and fellow writers. My "kid" is out there and I hope you embrace him, consider him wonderful yet quirky yet brilliant yet engaging.
When I get the go ahead from the publisher, I'll starting shouting my book from the mountain tops. And this blog, and Facebook and Instagram and all their compatriots. Until then, gaze lovingly at the above photo of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland. And know that, just for now, it's living in the tallest spire, sequestered away in safety, waiting to be freed to the world, to become a part of it, and to, hopefully, keep the spirit of Walt's magic alive in all who read it.
