Look at this beautiful thing.

It’s my book, all grown up and looking like a book.

Alas, it’s just an ARC (advance reader copy)– essentially, a paperback, uncorrected version of what will eventually be a hardcover thing of beauty without any errors (please, God!) and without that big red UNCORRECTED PROOF tag at the top of it.

But still. It’s my book.

I definitely cracked it open at work when I got it and read a couple scenes. They honestly FEEL different when they’re on book pages instead of Microsoft Word pages. You’re just going to have to trust me. Then, that night, I curled up in my bed and read some more of it. I wrote these things, I marveled.

No matter how ridiculous or self-indulgent it might be, you can’t help but marvel when you hold your ARC. Mine is the result of over three years of hard, hard work. It’s a dream that has become so true that I can literally touch it.