Riding the Wave

Several things have happened over the last couple of days that have really hit home the reality that I'm a soon-to-be-published author. After three rounds of edits, Keir feels like a whole new book, and much stronger for it. The essence is still there, the heart of it still intact, but it's been polished up and revamped. The flaws have been smoothed out. It's a good feeling.

But Sunday I got a wonderful new present delivered to my inbox. My cover! Oh, it was a shock at first. I had to stare at it for a while, leave the computer, have a little wander round and then come back. And then I knew. I loved it! It was dark and brooding, like my MC. It was clean and simple. Perhaps not the Keir I had in my head, but the guy on the cover is very...er...VERY nice, and I can see him as my MC. He is missing his tattoos, but there are limits with photo stock images, and I understand that. As soon as I got permission to flaunt it you can bet I did just that! Here it is -

But it's not just the fab artwork. It's seeing the title in lovely, flowing script. The tag lines that I came up with stamped on the cover. And most of all, it's seeing MY NAME on it, with the publisher's logo. It makes it real in a way that the contract didn't. That even the edits didn't. This isn't just some picture that I've put together in my spare moments for a bit of fun, or a poster off the internet. This is the real deal, a proper book cover from MY publisher, with MY name on it as author. It's a beautiful symbol of all the work I've put in, all the tears and moments of doubt, all the voices inside and out saying I couldn't do it. I have done it, and the cover is there to prove it.

And then there was more! Tuesday morning I got a tweet from Lyrical Press. My gorgeous cover was up on their 'Coming Soon' page for all to see. Not only that, but my name and author bio are up on the site too. I'm officially and publicly Pippa Jay, author of Keir, with Lyrical Press Inc. Oh, man, that's such a great feeling!

There's still a long way to go. More edits. More forms. More steps along the way. I've been compiling lists of useful information for the lead up to release day. I'm doing a New Year blog hop and a guest post on the 18th. I just got my first author interview too! As the year draws to a close, I know the first few months of 2012 are probably going to be the most hectic so far. Would I have it any other way? Hell, no! :D