{supersecretproject}

{Thank you for your words of encouragement and support! You have no idea how much each comment, facebook post, tweet, text, or email has meant. I’ll have more to share soon and of course can’t wait for you ALL to see the finished book.}

I finished something that has been in the works for a while and on my heart for much longer. It was on the edge of existence as I would lie in bed turning it over and over in my head and devote random days to its creation. But I couldn’t quite wrap it up. I couldn’t finish it. And I really couldn’t share it.

And then I did.

As I type this out now, it seems like such a small task. Trite even. But you should know that it feels huge to me. Like fulfilling my purpose. A calling. My mark on the universe.

I wrote a children’s book.

If you read that with confidence and boldness, read it again. Quieter. A little less sure of me.

When I finished it, I wanted to sit on the floor and read it to my persons. I wanted to paint the illustrations out for them with wordy descriptions. I wanted to watch their reactions.

Problem. They didn’t know I was seriously working on it…and they were all in Austin (living) or Houston (on cancercation).

So I emailed it to two of them. Timidly. Would you like to read the book I wrote? They loved it. Love it.

And there are people reading this blog now that I really wanted to tell personally, not via my blog. Read it to you. Hope you were proud of it. Thank you for your encouragement, or the books you’ve sent me about writing, or the ways you have validated me as a writer. But I couldn’t figure out how to out of the blue, humbly say: Hey you! I wrote a book and I really hope you love it! I couldn’t spam you with my book. (I considered/attempted/gave up on an idea of weaving it into Christmas somehow. Obviously that didn’t happen… or this whole paragraph wouldn’t be necessary.)

But now it’s out there. It’s been edited. And edited again. It’s in the hands of the illustrator. And this summer, I’ll autograph a copy for you. You can buy a dozen more copies on Amazon if you like.

Hopefully it will be as loved by the rest of the world as it is by us. (And by us I mean the six whole people (minus the professionals) who have read it…and who might be biased by their love for me.) Hopefully I’ll spend my first year in Austin reading it over and over… in classrooms, bookstores, coffee shops, libraries and wherever else I can. Seriously….wherever!

Who knows?

I do know this: I wrote a book! I’m an author. I’m proud of the story. It’s a beautiful story that is spirited, fun, unexpected, and moving…Or so I’ve been told♥