Susan Sands: Birthing a New Book

It's all beginning again! The exciting process of birthing a bright, new, shiny book baby is still a pretty new one for me and I wonder if other authors still get as starry-eyed as I'm feeling right now. I signed the contract, turned in the manuscript, and I've just received the cover art fact sheet asking all the questions about my setting, story, and characters. I love that my input and opinion really matters to my publisher, and thus far, they've knocked it out of the park when it comes to creativity and beautiful cover art.

Now, I wait for my fabulous editor to read the book and get back to me with her thoughts and suggestions. That's the hard part, isn't it? The waiting. And hoping. Hoping she will connect with my story the way I've written it. Hoping once again I've done my characters justice and didn't let it get too far off the rails. Will this one be too suspenseful? Sexy enough? Too sexy? So, I wait...

The self-doubt creeps in every time the book leaves my hands and goes across the net into someone else's court. (I just lost a tennis match today in three sets, so tennis is my analogy for the moment).

I can't wait to see the mock-ups for the new cover. It's like waiting for Christmas! Oh, wait, it's really almost Christmas too! I love the big reveal on social media to my friends and readers. I think I love almost everything about the steps in the process. When one works as hard and for as long as I did to realize this dream, I don't see how I could ever not appreciate all of it. Yes, it's hard most of the time, but this is the fun of it--seeing the fruits of your labors come to life.

Thanks so much to the team at the Tule Publishing Group, Lee Hyatt, who publishes this blog and has designed my covers, and to Sinclair Sawhney, my lovely editor, who took a chance on me. I'm just all full of giddy today as I await the next steps toward book #3!!

Hopefully, I'll have a title and cover to reveal next month!

Have a safe and very happy holiday season!!

Susan Sands