His Pants Are Touchable!

It's here. My book. THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD: EIGHTH GRADE BITES. In my hands. It's real.

The Fed Ex guy dropped off an envelope earlier. I didn't think much of it--in fact, it was the first time I'd received an envelope from Penguin where I didn't squeal and jump up and down. (Hmmm...maybe I'm maturing?) My son asked if it was the new catalog (because we'd just discussed my catalog copy for NINTH GRADE SLAYS a few days ago), and I said no, thinking maybe my editor had decided to do something sweet and send me a book as a gift.

And then I openeed it. And it was sweeter than sweet. Then I gasped and held it to my chest, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. My son and daughter asked what it was, so I pulled the book out of the envelope and showed them. They hugged me so tight and we jumped up and down...and the thing that really blew me away was how I felt when I looked at it...how I feel now as I look over at my book, my dream come true.

Now, something you need to know is that I'm not a fatalist. I don't believe in predetermined destiny. But looking at my book, I feel as if my life has been leading up to this moment, to holding that book, that it's just supposed to be this way. Is that odd? I'd expected to cry, to finally feel like a real, live author. But I didn't. I just felt like me...only thrilled out of my mind to be holdng my book at last.

And it's gorgeous, too! It has a matte cover, with raised black and red ink in various spots (all of the black on the front is raised--Vlad's pants are touchable), and on the actual hardcover there's red foil stamping with a red foil smiley on the front! Dutton is amazing. And I'm so lucky to be a part of this.

You're a part of it too, each and every one of you. Just hang in there...it won't be long now!