A New Season

It is Labor Day weekend; a long weekend for most.  Many are enjoying the last holiday weekend before the fall season sets in, either by relaxing at home, camping at a park, vacationing in luxury or possibly taking in all the sales many stores have to offer.

Although summer is not yet technically over, this holiday marks the end of the lazy summer schedules our kids wish would never end and it sparks the beginning of a new school year.  While our days are beautiful still, with blue skies and sunshine with no rain yet in sight, each evening and early morning seems to feel chillier than the day before. 

Yes, the seasons are changing.

I personally love the change in seasons.  I enjoy spring and fall the most.  Spring brings about hope and possibilities as the relenting cold weather from winter finally releases its grip and each blooming flower and the sight of newborn wildlife bring us wonder.  Fall might begin the end of warm sunny days with the crisp cool mornings as the sun comes up, but the expectation of coziness our own homes and family can offer gives me a warm feeling no other season can tender.

For me, this time isn’t just about the end of summer, the beginning of a new school year with my kids or the start of one of my favorite seasons.  This time also marks a new season for me as a writer.  As my last post noted, short as it was, I have finally published my book.  It has been just over a year since I began this journey and there were times when I wasn’t sure when or how I was going to get to this point. 

But I did get here.  I am a writer, I am an author and I am now a published author, albeit an indie author. 

Anyone can write a book and anyone can publish a book these days.  But it is a difficult process.  I am still learning and I will continue to learn.  The hurdle for me is the eBook, which I had never been familiar with because I like to hold my books when I read them.  I like to feel the weight of the book, flip through the pages, and I like to smell the pages as I fan them (yes, people like me do this, especially with new books).

My book has been published as an eBook for four days now and it is hard to describe the emotion I felt when I first saw my cover on the Amazon website.  A day later it became available on the Barnes& Noble website.  It truly is something else to see your work out there for anyone to see and read.  It’s exciting but even a bit scary.  You hope for the best but you know there might be some hurdles to cross when critiques are received as others read your work.  I’ll try to take it all in stride and learn from it, making the next book better and the next even better after that.  It’s all I can promise at this point.  I just truly hope those who do read my book will enjoy meeting the characters and will appreciate the story all together.  These characters have taken on a life of their own and I look forward to what they have to offer me and others as I continue to write their stories.

Again, for those who are like me and enjoy holding a book rather than reading an eBook, a print book is in the works.  It will be made available as soon as I can finalize the final product.  Seeing my book available on line as eBook may have produced emotions I’ve never felt before but I can hardly wait for the emotions that will hit me when I hold my book in my hands...as I flip through the pages, fan it and yes, even smell it.