I have now officially entered production time. So far this week I've looked over the jacket copy and the galley copy of my book, written my bio for the back of the book, and sent an entirely new author photo to HarperCollins. It's all becoming more and more real.
Couple this with the fact that my agency is sending the book off now for certain foreign rights and film rights. So we're back in the time when crazy news could come in any day. And, in the meantime, more people are reading my book and every now and then I get a really wonderful call or email from someone who really loves my book. Already. And it won't be published until winter.
This is encouraging. I went through a little panicky time right after the novel went into production where I seriously could not step back from my book enough to know whether or not it worked. I completely trust my amazing and brilliant editor at HarperCollins, but I had completely lost my own sense of the book. So now it's great that some people who are involved in this publishing/agenting/acquiring rights process are letting me know that they love the book. It's a wonderful feeling to have even a few fans, even if they are at this point all professionals who are reading my book for professional reasons. It gives me a sense of just how much I'm going to love having YA fans and getting to connect with them.
Very exciting time!