The Obligatory Pic

First off, crazy thanks to the lovely Paige Kellerman from There's More Where That Came From for the Kreative Blogger award!

And second.... I got my contract! It's kind of a thick stack of papers filled with legalese, but I'm pretty sure it says somewhere in there that if I blog, I'm somewhat obligated to post a picture of me signing it. (It's hard to say, exactly. I was too distracted by the fact that something written by lawyers had both my name and my book's name on it.) Surreal? You betcha. Made me do an embarrassingly giddy dance? Um... yeah. Does it feel like it's not really me and I'm just writing a book about someone who wrote and wrote and then one day got a contract? You could say that.

To everyone who is an aspiring author seeking traditional publication, I want to pass along a couple of things I've learned recently.

• As far as normal goes with this kind of thing: there is no normal. Of course, there's a normal range. Two months is at the Lightning-Fast end; Six months is at the I-Might-Die-Soon end, but both are entirely normal. I have a friend who got a book deal with a publisher who wanted to open a new line and lead with her book. Speed for her book was really important to them. Her MS was already in great shape, so it went through edits, went to copy editing, and she got her book cover, all before she got her contract. Incredible, right? Yet at the same time, still within normal. The point? Expect the unexpected, because it's probably "normal."
• There are very few agent / publisher combinations that allow for announcing the book deal before the contract is received, signed, and returned. I just happened to luck out. To everyone who has / will have to wait six months for a contract and somehow manage to keep quiet about the book deal the whole time, I bow down to you. (I'm talking one like in the olden days where they almost laid on the ground.) You will never cease to impress and amaze me.

I hope you all are loving writing you own author story! I especially hope the really frustrating parts that get you down feel like they're just happening to a character you're writing. And I hope the incredible parts bring you bucket loads of bliss. Even if they also feel like they're happening to a character you're writing. :o)