So...THIS happened!

OMG YOU GUYS--LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!!!!

Yes--KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is now OFFICIALLY in ARC form.

ITS A REAL BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Nope--that's still not enough exclamation marks:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Better!

And of course I HAD to take a bunch of dorky pictures of myself, celebrating:

(oh, you'd do the same thing--you know it!)

(I have QUITE a lot more of these--but I think you guys get the idea)

(and yes--yes I AM wearing my: I am a SERIOUS ARTIST black turtleneck sweater, but... that's mainly because it was FREEZING yesterday)

(FREEZING to a Native SoCalian = anything overcast and below 65 degrees F--just FYI)

I honestly can't even begin to describe what it feels like to hold my book--MY BOOK--for the first time, and flip through the pages and see my words in print and my name on every page and the font they chose and the chapter headings and... *sniffles*

Just trust me when I say it's AMAZING. 

And it makes me even more grateful and excited that someday I get to share it with all of you. I PROMISE I will have an ARC contest and give one of the Preciousssssssssss away--but not quite yet (SORRY!). The thing is, I realized something else when I saw my baby in print.

It's ... thick.

Which I LOVE. 

I love nothing more than a book that lets you sink into it for more than a few quick hours. But it's also a very good visual representation for the gauntlet I'm currently running trying to get through Book 2. 

Thick books = A WHOLE LOTTA WORK

That's not to say that thin books AREN'T a lot of work. But trust me--thick books are beasts. And I'm currently at a point in the draft for Book 2 where sadly, if I wrote shorter books, I'd be done by now. But I'm not. I have a LOT of work ahead of me. And... not a lot of time to do it in, thanks to needing to get started very very soon on LET THE SKY FALL BOOK 2. 

So I don't have time at the moment to organize an epic ARC giveaway--and my blogging may be a bit sporadic for a bit (in fact, I'm taking the rest of the week off). I'll do the best I can to be as regular as possible--so PLEASE don't stop coming by--but I can't promise I'll be posting every day. At least not until I get to "The end."

*rolls up sleeves and dives back in*

(Well... after a little more time doing THIS:)

*is--arguably--THE BIGGEST NERD EVER*