from a napkin to a book

April 29, 2013 Erica Lucke Dean

Wow...it's really here. Today is the official release day for my book, To Katie With Love. I would have never guessed the scrawled out notes on a bar napkin would have actually brought me here. I'm not sure I have words to convey how exciting this is. And for those who don't write books for a living, it takes a really long time and a whole lot of effort to go from a bunch of words on a page to a published book.

To Katie With Love

By Erica Lucke Dean

You know that old saying, it takes a village? I know it wasn't used in this context, but it really does take a village to create a book. You start with a writer and an idea, and you go through edits and beta readers and more edits and proofreading and cover concepts and even more stuff I don't even know about because I was lucky enough to have a publisher do all that for me. A village.

Yet, I'm here to tell you, all the work is totally worth it when you see your words come to life in the form of a book. It's almost like having a baby...though slightly less painful, and way quieter, and never mind, it's nothing like having a baby. But it's still super exciting.

So today I official go from being an unpublished author to a published author. Now the fun part can begin as I set out to promote my book on a month long blog tour and as of yet unbooked live signings. And here I thought pigs were scary. Scary, exciting, life altering, amazing. I wrote a book and now people can go buy it. Who would have guessed?

Until the next time...I'll be promoting!

Find To Katie With Love at these online retailers:

Amazon Paperback

Kindle

Barnes and Noble Paperback

Nook

another day closer

April 25, 2013 Erica Lucke Dean

I don't remember the first thing I wrote. Probably because I've been making up stories since before I even knew how to write them down. My parents used to talk about my imaginary friends and my elaborate tales, and flights of fancy. Thank goodness they've reached the age where they've forgotten all about those and moved on to other embarrassing memories. I'm sure the first several (hundred) stories I wrote were silly and ridiculous. I say that only because the first few I do remember were. Hell, I still venture into the silly and ridiculous from time to time.

My significant other (also known as the IDP, or Imaginary Dead President for those of you out of the loop) likes to tease me about living in an alternate universe...the place I spend most of my time. I try to rationalize it as a writer's prerogative, but maybe I am just weird. Hey, if I am, so what. I'm a writer.

Basically, I've always been a writer. It's more than what I do, it's who I am. And in just a few more days (four if you're keeping track) for the first time since those first goofy stories, I'm going to see one in print...with my name in bold letters across the bottom. My book.

Come Monday, it's gonna feel pretty damn good. I can't wait to write all about it.

Until the next time...I'll be looking forward to my last weekend as an unpublished author.

countdown to release day

April 10, 2013 Erica Lucke Dean

I just realized it's only twenty days til my book, To Katie With Love is being released. Twenty days...less than three weeks away. Shouldn't I have started counting down sooner? Shouldn't I feel more anxious...excited...delighted? I mean, sure...I suppose I do. But honestly, it just doesn't feel real yet. It felt real the day I saw the completed cover, but now, it just feels like this far off dream I had that I can't quite pull into my consciousness. And yet, in twenty days, I will have a book out there for people to buy, and read, and hopefully love as much as I loved writing it. Because I really did have fun writing this book.

I had no idea when I sat down in a smoky karaoke bar with my drink napkin and a borrowed pen, people watching as I wrote out what would ultimately become chapter one, that anything would ever come of it. And I guess I should thank the bank I worked at for not noticing I wasn't actually working as often as I was scribbling down ideas for the rest of the story, during the business day. And I'm certain I need to thank my former coworkers for allowing me to draw from their personalities to create the zany cast of supporting characters in the story.

And just maybe this little piece of me secretly wishes I was Katie James, and that Cooper Maxwell were real. And maybe in my little world I am...and he is...and happily ever after is just a few pages away.

Until the next time...I'll be counting down!