You Are My Only, the galleys read through

I have, as readers of this blog know, a bad case of avoidance when it comes to reading my own published or nearly-published work through, and I'm especially anxious once galleys arrive.  Is my book what I think a book should be?  Does it represent a step forward? Is it original and new?  I need to know, and I'm afraid to find out.  A writer requires distance, and courage.

And so, these past many months—through corporate projects and student papers, through the finishing of another novel and the start of a memoir—the galleys of You Are My Only have been sitting here, awaiting my attention.  When you get the time, I kept telling myself.  When you are ready.

This morning I made myself ready.  I sat, and I did not move.  I stayed with Sophie and Joey, with Emmy and Autumn, and I read all the way through.

I emerge at peace.

Thank you, Amy Rennert, Laura Geringer, and Team Egmont USA.