If you follow my Facebook page, you may have noticed the image I uploaded yesterday with my ridiculously exciting news… But just in case you missed it, GUESS WHAT ARRIVED YESTERDAY???? Here’s a hint:

Yep, that is me holding the very first copy of my book!!!

This is SO surreal! It’s actually a physical book now! I can hold it in my hands! How INSANE is that!!!

Let me back up a step and walk you through my last 48 hours using animated awesomeness for entertainment value…

Tuesday afternoon/night: I received a text message from the CEO of Pantera Press saying that a shipment of my books had just been delivered to their offices (and they were still being unloaded from the truck as she wrote) and she wanted me to know that she pulled the very first one out and hurried it to the post office to express mail it to me so I could get it ASAP.

No joke, I was not expecting such exciting news—not so soon, anyway! I mean, I knew it had gone off to the printers a few weeks ago, but still! Awesome turnaround time! I barely got any sleep that night, so excited as I was for its imminent arrival.

But I must have gotten to sleep at some stage, because when I woke up yesterday morning I pretty much jumped straight out of bed and into crazy-land. I’m not kidding—I’m so very fortunate that the people I work with are used to my levels of insanity, because, well, yesterday I was something else entirely. That said, when they learned why I was so excited, they totally understood.

Needless to say, I didn’t have the most productive work day (though, I did get to proofread my boss’s new e-book, so that was fun!)… And I ended up leaving just after lunch because I was so excited to get home and couldn’t concentrate on anything anyway. I was both freaking out and hyperactively anticipatory (is that even a legit description?).

Anyway, I finally got home and THERE IT WAS!!! An express post baggie that literally contained my hopes and dreams (yikes!). I think I was even shaking (nerves? excitement? both?). But then I opened it and ……

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

That’s right! I’m so thrilled! It’s sooooo pretty, soooo shiny, soooo everything! You can’t see it in the photo (of me holding it), but the gold words are actually in a metallic gold material, and the forest background in the middle is debossed so that it’s pushed back (so it adds a three dimensional look highlighting that she’s about to step into another world). Omigosh… I can’t even…