The News...

Hello everyone! Please forgive my sideways pictures. I'll get this whole thing all figured out again. :) 

On January 23, I received the following email:

I was sitting in the van, waiting for the boys to come out of school, when I read this email. Immediately the crying and shaking began. First, I said a prayer, telling Heavenly Father the news. (which He knew already, of course, but I thought it only appropriate that He should be the first I should tell.) Then, I immediately called Gary, then my Mom. There was much screaming, laughing, and crying.

I had submitted the book in September. I could have sworn it was November, but I guess time flies while you're sitting around waiting for something. But for real, I had kind of forgotten about it. I had received two rejections already, so I had quickly learned to just chill. 

But, my lessons I had learned on chilling immediately flew out the window after I got that email. I knew it could be two weeks, but starting that very day, I checked my email about, oh, every 2.5 seconds. Chilling is highly overrated. 

But, my psychoness paid off. On the 28th, (5 days later) I checked my email in the morning, had a shower, and by the time I got out, I had received this!!:

The prayers, phone calls, screaming, crying, and laughing commenced once again. After things had calmed down a little bit, I was folding laundry alone downstairs, and the reality of everything kind of washed over me. I had dreamed of this since I was in Junior High. Twenty years later, my dream had come true. It wasn't the most important dream of my life, but still, a pretty fun one, and I was overcome with gratitude. I had to throw a few clothes back in the dryer because of all the tears. ;)

The boys have been so incredibly supportive and sweet. Even while I was writing the book and was very careful about not letting it take over my life and become a distraction, they would say, "Mom, you need to work on your book." So, while they did their homework, I would sit with them and do mine.

On the 23rd, when we found out that Cedar Fort might publish the book, the boys wanted a big celebration. I said that we should wait until we know for sure that it's going to happen, just to be safe. So, I promised that on the very day we found out IF they were going to publish it, we would make a "cake shaped like a book, " just like they wanted.

Ryan was the first to remind me of my promise, and these sweet boys made this cake. 

So, that's our news. It's been pretty overwhelming. I've had to go waaaay outside my comfort zone, letting people know about the book. For two years, only a handful of people knew about this crazy little hobby of mine, and I really liked it that way, but it's time to open up a little bit. It just feels a little bit like, "Here's my heart. Tell me if you like it." That can be a teeny bit frightening. I probably won't say much about the book on here. I've had to start an author website where I'll keep people posted about book stuff, and reserve this one for kids' birthdays and fun family things, but I'll occasionally throw in some book stuff here and there. 

I just want to thank my family and friends SO, VERY much for their support. No one has laughed at me yet, (at least to my face) ;) and that gives me hope and a little bit of confidence in moving forward. :) 

Oh, and the book is called, "Ella."