June 21, 2011

Very Special Delivery

So, after an 18-hour drive that took me straight from Mississippi to DC, followed by a belated Father's Day dinner with my folks (Ardeo's scallops and octopus over black lentils), followed by a knock-out Rob Roy perfectly mixed by the owner of the Black Fox in Dupont Circle (oh, I have missed my town!), I was sleeping in this morning. 

A knock on the door at 9:10 AM woke me up. Who was it? Why? Would I have to put clothes on? I walked to my door and peered into the hallway. Nobody there. Whew.

Then I noticed the package someone had left behind. 


My heart skipped a little. I grabbed the scissors and carefully sliced open one end.


My first thought was: Yay! Yay! Yay! (Eloquent, right? That's why they call me a poet.) My second thought was: Funny, I had never thought about my book's physical color...



...and that color turns out to be a lovely robin's-egg blue, with a goldenrod spine. 


No other way to say it: Don't Kill the Birthday Girl is here. Oh, sure, you won't see it in a store near you until July 12. But in this moment, a book has been born.


Even though I've reviewed how it would look a hundred times--from text to cover art to even, yes, my own flap copy--I had never imagined this moment. 


Stand up, baby. Shake your tail feathers. Let's dance. 

(Don't Kill the Birthday Girl is available for pre-order now from Barnes & Noble and NOOK, Amazon.com and Kindle, iTunes/iBook, IndieBound, Borders, Powell’s, Politics & Prose, Teaching for Change, and Square Books. Or you can come to my place in DC and try to steal one of these five copies. But be warned: I'll fight you.)

12 comments:

Natalie said...

So proud. May this make up for all the chocolate you missed.

Jeannine said...

Nothing like a sneaky little package of new books to cheer one up! Cognrats!

Kim said...

What a "quint"essential moment! How very gratifying. Kudos to you--enjoy the ride.

Richard Hicks said...

Congratulations, Sandra! :-)

Paulette said...

Woot! Woot! and Woot!

Sandra said...

Thanks, all! No two ways about it: this feels really good, to finally have the darn thing in hand. Feels like a wild ride about to start.

Anonymous said...

Huge congrats. It looks great!

-Barry Napier

Michael A. Wells said...

Congratulations Sandra. That is so cool, and certainly worth getting dressed for. :)

Martha Silano said...

How exciting. It looks absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the kooky little package with the good, good goodies inside. Congratulations!

Collin Kelley said...

Looking forward to reading your memoir! Congrats!

Sandra said...

Thanks, everyone! I am so excited.

Michael: the truth is that it was a few hours more before I got dressed. I -darted- into that hallway.

Denise K said...

YAHOO! HELL YEAH! And all that jazz.