2016 was a year of work.

I may have landed my book deal at the end of July in 2015, but I got an agent involved so it was September before it was finalized. In the fall, I traveled to NYC for a brainstorming session over rewrites of some of the book’s more critical components, and just before the holidays, I got my edit letter.

I made a conscious decision not to even read it until after the New Year (knowing it would torture the crap out of me and eat my life through the holidays if I did), and on January 5th, I finally gave it my full attention.

*Gulp*

I started writing. And writing. And rewriting. And writing some more. I can give you better detail of the next 6 months in my blog post for Swoon Reads – editing is a process, and involves leaps of faith tempered by sacrifice. Ultimately, it is very, very worth it.

And as we were putting the finishing touches on Traveler, my friends discovered before I did that it was already up for pre-order on Amazon. That was an awesome, awesome, day. But not nearly as awesome as the day I opened the mail and held my advanced reader copy in my hot, sweaty, shaking hand:

Now I have a publicist setting up blog tours and book signings, and the countdown clock is ticking, and Traveler is out in just over 30 days. It still feels surreal, guys. It really does.

And I am so incredibly grateful for all of it. Here’s to a stellar 2017!