Four. More. Days!!!!!! I’ve been going on little sleep in anticipation of the book launch party! I hope to see you there!

I’ve been assigned my first editing job. Yep. It’s a crafty selection titled, “The Clumsy Kid,” and was written by my creative nephew, Colton, who is in 3rd grade. My heart was full when he called me and asked me if I’d be willing to edit his book (seriously, soooo cute!). When I saw him the next day and asked what he had in mind, I realized he not only wants me to edit the book, but publish it (hardcover preferred), type it (no problem) and change the illustrations, which are “rough sketches of stick people” to “real” illustrations (yep, this is a problem here!).

In addition to this, I was asked to speak with a class of 3rd graders about the creative writing and editing process. I can’t tell you how excited I am! We are going to do a fun writing prompt and I’m going to share my very first published book with them: a book that went through a few rough drafts before being published with a wallpaper book cover. And guess what?! I was in 3rd grade at the time. I’m also going to show them the many rough, ugly stages of my novel, red marks/corrections/edits and all. I can’t wait!

So amid all the crazy plate-spinning and learning of the business side of marketing and selling books (definitely not as fun as the writing side of things), I realized that if this whole process inspires just one kid to chase a dream or pursue writing, it was all worth it.

All the hassle. All the hustle. All the humility. All the hope. WORTH IT.