It happened again yesterday. I was at work, and a coworker stopped by to talk about weekend plans. After a few minutes of pleasant small talk, he said, “Hey, is your book out yet?”

Signing with my publisher has led to some of the most exciting and rewarding moments of my life so far. I’ve also had a few recurring awkward moments, and by that, I mean people ask me completely reasonable questions I don’t know how to answer, and I get hella awkward about it.

The question I’ve been least prepared for is some variation of, “Can I buy your book now? / Is your book out yet? / I looked for your book on your publisher’s website, do you know why I couldn’t find it?”

First of all, let me say I’m thrilled that people want to buy my book and show me support. I realize this is a great “problem” to have, and this post is in no way a complaint on my part.

I signed with Bold Strokes Books in November of 2018 and announced the news in mid-December. Fast forward to now, and you’ve had five months of my gushing about how grateful I am to be realizing this dream that languished in a dark corner of my heart for decades. I understand why folks are like, “Hey, awesome, happy for you, btw where’s the book?”

London Undone is seven months (today) from being released. It will be out in the world on December 10, 2019. This is about a year turnaround from when I signed to when I’m published, which is relatively short by industry standards. Many authors wait eighteen months to two years or longer, so I was pretty stoked when I heard the timeline.

Most people aren’t intimately acquainted with the publishing industry’s pace, though, so they anticipate the kind of instant gratification to which we are all so accustomed in many areas of our lives. This makes for multiple conversations in which I blather and sputter myself into an odd frenzy.

Here’s a typical example of one of these gems for you:

Someone: “Hey, is your book out yet? I’d like to buy it.” Me: “Yeah, no, not yet. It comes out in December! I’ll be doing edits this summer. The cover is done, wanna see a picture? It’s an exciting time, hard to believe it’s all happening. Most of the time it doesn’t feel real. Anyway, thanks for asking, I promise it’s really coming out at the end of this year, I’m not making it up or anything. I’ll let you know when it gets released in case you still wanna buy it! You don’t have to, though. No pressure.”

So, my self-promotion and marketing can obviously use some work. The truth is, I do have a hard time believing this is really happening to and for me, and I have a bit of imposter syndrome about it. Even people who thought I could never become a published author were probably less surprised than I was when I actually got signed.

It really is happening. Most readers won’t be able to get a copy in their hands for another seven months, and I’ll be spending a big chunk of my summer working on edits and revisions, so we aren’t there yet, but each day I can honestly say I’m one day closer than I’ve ever been.

Thank you to any and all of you who are sticking with me through these long months. It’s my sincerest hope that London Undone will be worth the wait.