I Thought this Day Would Never Come

Y'all. I can't believe it. Publication day is finally here. My publisher got their stock of my book yesterday, and I got my copies in the mail this afternoon. The book looks so pretty!

I'd be lying if I said it hadn't been a bit of an emotional roller coaster to get to this point. At one point, I even almost decided to quit. But, my ever fabulous mother talked me off the proverbial ledge, and I pushed on. 

When I started this blog, I never thought, in a million years, that it would lead me to writing a book. It was an incredible feeling when I sent the draft to my editor. It felt even better when I sent in the final approval for printing. I stared at the proposed cover of the book for hours on the day it was emailed to me, grinning like a fool. And for everyday after that for about a week. I held printed copies of my marked up manuscript in my hands, approved photos, and gave my ok for publishing, but it wasn't real to me until I tore open the cardboard box this afternoon and held the finished product. It's still a bit surreal.

Right now, I'm lining up book signings and events, and I'm terrified. Terrified that people are going to read this book and think I'm a fraud, or that I forgot some hugely important player in the food scene (apologies in advance if that happened!). Also, I'm more than a little introverted so having to mingle with all of the people at these events is taking me way out of my comfort zone, and I'm having a minor panic attack just thinking about it. Just keep that in mind if I seem shy or nervous or twitchy or socially awkward when I'm talking to you. 

Everything about this journey and this experience has been a bit on the overwhelming side. I'm convinced that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and find that it's all been just a giant dream. But then I'm going to look on my dining room table (or really just the pillow next to me, because I am so not putting this book down), and realize that I did it. I managed to write a real book that people are actually going to buy, going to read, and hopefully going to enjoy.

I couldn't have done this without the support, encouragement, and general help of everyone in my life, including everyone who reads this blog. Thank you all from the very bottom of my heart. And if you could find it in you to support me a little bit more, I'd love it if you'd buy the book. You can get it from my publisher (The History Press), Amazon, or Barnes & Noble right now, and it should be available in stores next week. It'll also be for sale at all of the events I attend, so you can pick up a copy at those too. A full list of those are on the new website, so keep an eye on it for updates. 

Thank you all so very, very much.  Cheers!