It finally happened!

 

Seven years after I finished the first draft of my first novel, I signed with a publisher. I have dreamed of holding a copy of a book I wrote and seeing my name on the cover. My debut novel, Jaguars and Other Game, comes out November 22, 2022 with Orange Blossom Publishing!

Assuming my small publisher stays on track with the other books coming out earlier in the year. And assuming the supply chain is mostly back together. And let’s hope for an in-person launch event but who knows when the next Covid variant will hit. But I live in Georgia so I’m probably on for an in-person event. Florida would be more of guarantee but even then, bookstores are getting good at hosting virtual book launches. But if all stars align, there will be a launch party in-person with physical copies of my book in November.

No matter what happens, I am NOT going to worry about the nature of my book launch. I am going to be happy and celebrate for all of 2022. A professional book person who is a complete stranger to me read my words and said “Yes, this should be printed. It is worth people’s time and money.” So I’m just basking in the glow of a dream achieved.

Ha. I wish. It’s my nature to plan things out thoroughly in advance then lay in bed sick with anxiety when those plans have to change. It’s one of my adorable personality quirks being unable to chill and go with the flow.

Over the years, I’ve heard several published authors say that getting your first book doesn’t lessen the stress. It just replaces the fear of never being published with a hundred other fears. And that’s been true, especially with a small publisher. All the early marketing is on me. There’s no marketing intern in New York making my promotional graphics for social media. I have a hundred more professional to-dos than before the book deal.

2015! My first Decatur Book Festival as an aspiring author. DBF 2023! I’m coming for a local author spot.

But…BUT all the new worries rest on a foundation of “I did it.” I feel as though an enormous weight has been lifted off my soul that not even signing with my agent relieved. I don’t dread the extra work. Even while the stress knot between shoulder blades grows tighter every minute I spend integrating Mailchimp with my webpage, I’m happy to do the work. I’m absolutely thrilled that I NEED to do the work. Because it’s “for my book”! I will make the damn subscription button work no matter how long it take because I have proof that working hard will pay off. The workshops and contests and style books and years of writing will not all be in vain as I dreaded they would for so many years.

No matter what happens. In-person or virtual launch. Five attendees or a hundred. 3 Goodreads reviews from my writing group or dozens of four star reviews from strangers. Ten copies sold or five hundred. No matter what happens, by the end of 2022 I will be a published author. When people ask my daughter “What does your mommy do?” She can say  “She’s an author. You can buy her book.”

And I am damn proud of the book I wrote.

Jaguars and Other Game is a historical adventure in the spirit of The Three Musketeers that follows three women as they work together to track down a murderer to save a friend wrongly imprisoned for the crime. There’s romance, diamond smugglers, corrupt officials and a mad queen. It’s a story about found family and the lengths we’ll go to save those we love from injustice. And it will be available through your local bookstore, Amazon or Target on November 22, 2022.