I'm not sure anything has made this process feel more real than seeing my cover for the first time. I had so much trepidation, so much anxiety about it. What if it wasn't right? What if I hated it? My kids said that if it featured a teenage couple in near-kiss pose, they'd disown me. Can't say that I'd blame them.

So you can imagine when I got the email from the publisher presenting the cover ... I literally held my breath as I opened it.

And you guys. IT WAS PERFECT. Seriously. I'm not sure I could love it any more than I do. The little cover I made for myself when I was writing ZENN DIAGRAM is eerily similar to my actual cover -- even the font! (And you guys -- the font is called MATHLETE. And the book is about a math nerd! AAAHHHH! Perfect!) Anyway, I LOVE the cover, but I had to keep it on the down low until they said I could reveal it and now I can!

Notice a few of the little details that make it so great. The book is about Eva Walker, who is a math genius. And look! There are math equations in the background! And graph paper! And her love interest's name is Zenn, so the title is a play on Venn diagram, which is one of those graphs of overlapping circles that show what sets of data have in common. And since this is a romance, why not a HEART Venn diagram?! Because isn't that what all love stories are: the intersection of where two people's stories overlap?

See what I mean? It's perfect on so many levels. And I don't have the back cover to show you yet, but it's just as cute. Remember how you used to doodle the name of your crush on your brown paper bag book covers in high school?  (I still doodle now, in meetings when I'm exceptionally bored.) The back cover has that kind of stuff. It's adorable.

Oh, and one more thing: I am a total sucker for symmetry. I just ... can't with random messiness. And this cover is a work of symmetrical art. Even my name is symmetrical.

Anyway, I'll let you feast your eyes on this beauty. I hope you love it, but even if you don't, I love it enough for the both of us!

I know. I KNOW. I really am not very good at this. My little blog has suffered since I've basically switched my attention over to Facebook, where it is a bit easier and quicker to post updates (follow my Zenn Diagram page HERE). But I thought I'd do a quick check-in so this place doesn't become completely obsolete. I am paying for the domain name, after all...

So ... Where did we leave off? Oh, right! Back in April, I announced that my book was being published by the awesome new teen imprint at Kids Can Press (KCP Loft) and that my editor is the AMAZING Kate Egan (editor of the Hunger Games series!)! Since then, I've been lucky enough to work with Kate on editing my story (she really is a magician, I tell you), as well as copy editing, proofreading, etc. Basically, this mostly involves me reading and rereading it a bunch of times and tweaking, fine tuning, looking for errors/typos, etc. Tedious work, but I kind of love that sort of thing. Especially if it means I'm a step closer to my book becoming a reality.

I've had my author photo taken (thank you Cindy Kennedy!), which was horrible and wonderful and completely out of my comfort zone. As unphotogenic as I am, Cindy worked her miracles and we actually had a few options. I don't know how models do it, you guys. Seriously. Soooo awkward for me.

And you guys -- I have seen my cover/book jacket, and it is amazing. AMAZING! Guh! I can't share it just yet, but I can tell you that I absolutely LOVE it. It is exactly what I pictured when I dreamed of what my book might look like from the start. Seriously, I am so, so very thrilled and can't wait to show you!

Next steps: I believe my book (along with the other three that KCP is publishing in the spring: Just a Normal Tuesday by Kim Turrisi, Textrovert by Lindsey Summers, and Keeping the Beat by Marie Powell and Jeff Norton) is shipping off to the printer any day now, and Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) will be out in October sometime. That is the moment I really might cry -- when I hold an actual book with my name on the cover. I get a little woozy just thinking about it.

ARCs are kind of the book preview -- an early version that the publisher sends out to librarians and booksellers and bloggers to try to get people to read it, love it, and share it. They are soft cover versions but they'll look pretty much like the real thing. KCP Loft people will be taking these babies to various conferences and talking them up to people in the know. I don't know about you, but that's enough to make me feel more than a little bit anxious.

So, yeah. The anxiety is kicking in a little bit, now. What if no one likes it? What if I only sell a handful of copies to friends and family? What if this is my only shot? But more than the anxiety is the excitement: What if ... what if I get to write and publish more books? What if people connect with my story and my characters? What if I inspire someone else to follow their dream? Those are the "what ifs" I prefer to think about.

I will try to get over here and post periodic updates, but follow me on Facebook to make sure you don't miss any big news. I'm at 175 followers and would LOVE to get to 200 this month! A girl can dream, right? (I'm hoping it will be amusing someday to look back and read that I once had only 175 followers.)

And thank you, as always, for all of your support -- it truly means so much to me.