Merry Christmas to you all, but also to myself because I finally published my fourth book this week.
And to everyone who was asking about it, I told them fall. Dec. 19 is still, technically, fall. It is also just in time for Christmas.
What actually took a long time was cover art, but I don’t mind. I can be a pretty patient person, and I love my cover artist. I’ve worked with her on all four of my books, and she brought my characters to life so beautifully every single time.
I’m a big advocate of treating yourself to gifts for holidays and birthdays, and writing this book series has been one big gift to myself. It’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to write books that I love, dedicated to people that I love.
Something I didn’t expect when I wrote these books was how much people would care, and for that I say thank you to all of you who have asked about them. I was surprised this past year when I went to my high school reunion and all of them asked me about my books. I was equally surprised and a little flustered when my dentist hurried into my cleaning to compliment my books before I left and bragged to the dental hygienist about me. That might sound odd, but my mom was one of his first patients 30 years ago, so he’s been my dentist ever since I grew teeth. He’s seen me grow up and always asks about my career and accomplishments when he sees me.
I’ve had several instances like that where I’m just shocked and in awe that people are reading my books and liking them enough to talk to me about them. I like them, obviously, but I’m still getting used to the fact that other people like my stories as well.
Writing a column or writing a news story differ so much from writing a fiction book, and I’m so happy to say I get to do all of those things. Writing has always made me happy, so every time I get to see the fruits of my labor, it’s like Christmas all over again.
I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my work in some capacity this year, be it a book I wrote from my heart, a column about my goofy dogs (see page 2 for Cosmo’s brilliance), or a news article about an audit.
And Merry Christmas. Do something to make your heart happy this year, and call it a gift to yourself.