New book time!

Tonight is like Christmas around my house. No baking pies or turkey, but an excitement that is just as heady and bubbly. Tomorrow, a new book comes out.

A new book coming out is like Christmas and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. It's blood, sweat and tears. Long nights on the sofa and pacing the floor, wondering if it's right. It's a heartsick feeling when the edits come in and worse when the reviews roll in.

But it's also fireworks and smiles. It's dreams coming true and promises for tomorrow. It means there will be readers who gush how much they love it and ask when the next one will come out. It's a world that didn't exist except in your mind that comes to life for someone other than yourself. The only thing more intoxicating and exciting are my babies, furry and non-furry.

The first time you pick up that book and see it with its cover, all shiny and new, brings tears to the eyes and a broad smile to the lips. It may not be perfect (Some reviewers will be happy to point that out)but it's yours. It's a milestone and a lifeline. You are living your dream.

I guess that says it all. Tomorrow, A Corpse for Yew, fifth book in the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries comes out. People always ask which book is our favorite. I always say I could never choose. Which daughter do I love best? Which grandchild is cutest? There is no way to measure these things and I wouldn't want to.I love them all the same. They are all a part of me. And Jim! 8-))

Joyce Lavene