The biggest joys of my entire life were the mornings I birthed my baby boys. After months of wearing maternity clothes, doctor appointments, baby showers and reading stacks of parenting books . . . the big days finally arrived. Contractions turned to holding my sweet infants in my arms. Nothing on earth compared!

While I very much anticipated holding my newborns and bringing them into the world . . . a surprising amount of pain was involved leading up to the big days.

Birthing a book, and releasing my story babies into the world, is much the same.

Months of plotting, writing, revising, editing turn into more months of marketing meetings with my team at the publishing house where we plan the promotions, the graphics, the advertising, and my appearances . . . all to get the books onto YOUR READING SHELVES!

The entire event is exhilarating . . . and painful.

Fear creeps in.

What if no one BUYS the book and all the money my publishing house has invested does not result in profit?  What if the book doesn’t sell and they don’t contract me again? What if the readers and reviewers don’t like the story?  What if . . . what if . . . what if ???

See what I mean?  This is the HARD PART of being a novelist.

My author friends share this sentiment. One says she always has dreams of being on stage and needing to go potty. One says nightmares of walking down the street naked haunt her in the days before release. Doesn’t take a genius to decipher the meanings.

So . . . all that to say, WHERE RIVERS PART releases this week–on Tuesday, February 17, to be exact. And I feel like I’m in labor. I’m trying to breathe through the fear (hoo hoo–hee hee) and I’m praying a lot.

Ultimately, YOU THE READER will meet my story baby soon. I hope you think WHERE RIVERS PART is the prettiest baby you’ve ever seen!