I didn’t kiss the UPS man, but I won’t say I wasn’t tempted.

I think the things I like best might be how the hard cover looks without the jacket, and the fact that the dust jacket is lovely enough to warrant taking it off to rest carefully on the bookshelf while a person reads the book itself. We do that with all our dust jackets and hard covers. Kevin the Artist designed a beautiful jacket. AH produced a beautiful product. I believe the story is worthy of both.

I am thirty-eight years old. Of those 38, it has taken me nearly 30 to hold a thing in my hands which I can say I created. For which I am responsible. Not to splat you with melodrama, but…some people have babies. I’ve had a book. It is the path I chose. Hopefully, this is just the first of several.

No, no. Don’t worry. I’m not suggesting my literary efforts are of the caliber required to bring a person into the world, or to raise a child with success. But this is the realization of a dream. Physical. Manifest. Solid. I could throw it at someone and leave a pretty good mark. And after all this time, it’s so surreal, I think my brain might start leaking from my ears.

I’ve always said writers are a dime a dozen. And I know there are thousands + thousands of writers with far greater talent than I that haven’t had the opportunity to hold their story(s) in their hands like I’ve done today. I do not take my good fortune lightly. Indeed, if gratitude were helium I’d have floated to the stars long ago.

But it’s important to remember that this is a beginning. This is a start to another story. My personal story, yes, plus the rest of the stories I have to write. I think Standing With Buffalo is next. And then maybe The Brown Line, and then Good Men. I think that’ll be the flow. I’ve been wrong before, but…. The important thing is that energy continues. The writing’s the thing. The thinking’s the thing. And I am so grateful to be on this journey, come what may.