I’m clacking up another hill in this giant rollercoaster ride. Every word edited like another link in the chain dragging me higher. The potential energy building. What’s over the rise?

I don’t know. And it isn’t that I’m expecting great things, as in massive, I’m just having wonderful expectations. Friends and family are excited for me, which means a new holiday has graced our calenders this year. September. The only celebration I associate with that month is the birth of my little sister–Mollie! How fitting, eh? And what better gift to give her than a copy of my first book, whose main character was partially inspired by her.

The struggle to expand my audience is also something I’m very much looking forward to. I’ve had a wonderful time at book conferences as a fan, critic and correspondent. Now I can be all those and an author, too! Calling local bookstores to arrange signings and trying to convince them that they should care who I am; interacting with people in shopping malls at my sad, little card-table; doing readings in libraries or at local schools–it all sounds like a thrilling challenge.

Now I need to get back to editing, where one needs to be careful about how they use words. Cleverness is great for blog titles, but semantic ambiguity is murder in the middle of a narrative.