Wednesday was stressful. At 11:30pm, I finally sat down and checked my email. Right there, in my inbox, were two unbelievable emails.

Email #1 :: My manuscript, back from the editor, with 170 pages splattered with minor fixes, grammatical errors, and some new ideas to think about.

Email #2 :: Two options of the book cover from my graphic designer.

Good gracious. All I could think was, “I should be jumping-out-of-my-skin excited. But I’m so tired. But this is a big moment. But I’m sleepy. Do I need to record this moment? Or can I just close my eyes?” It was a confusing conversation [that completely happened in my mind].

But I did think, “I can’t believe this is really happening.” In a good way.

Let me back up and tell you how this whole thing started….

So like I mentioned last week, I wrote a book, got picked up by an agent, pitched the book, no one wanted it, and then splitsville from my agent.

Over the summer, I began to dream. God started something with this book in 2006. I dreamed of finishing what God had started [with Him, of course. I hope.]

I looked around. A friend from church is a graphic designer. Hmmm…. another friend used to be an editor at Thomas Nelson. Hmmm….. wait.

Y’all know I’m a people person. And you know I love my Nash-people.

And suddenly it looked like my people were going to help make this dream a reality. [At this point, about a month ago, I kinda freaked out with excitement.]

Then I wrote up a business proposal and made my math-wiz friend Wes crunch the numbers and emailed my parents.

I think the email said this:

“Hey guys. Y’all are great. Look at this business plan for self-publishing my book. We could totally be business partners. You in?“

[It wasn’t that informal. Also, I don’t start emails to my parents by saying, “hey guys.”]

So we shopped around, looking at lots of different self-publishing houses, and we decided on Westbow Press. [I’m gonna tell you why next week. Hold on to your horses, future authors.]

We hired the editor. We hired a graphic designer. We called Westbow Press, talked through which plan we wanted, and signed up.

And then suddenly I blinked and it was Wednesday night and I had an edited manuscript and two absolutely gorgie-poo cover choices and an advocate at Westbow Press emailing me and saying, “hey Annie, what can I do to help you?”

Right? Crazy.

So this train is moving ahead. My next step is going through the edits then sending it back to the editor for a final look over. I have to pick a book cover and collect endorsements. And then the goal is to turn everything in by October 15.

Phew.

In the next few weeks, I’ll tell you why I picked Westbow [if you want to hear more about them, click the button in the sidebar], how the editing process works, and how the first few weeks of working with Westbow folks has been.

[preview: 95% awesome, 3% scary, 2% confusing.]

Also- I can totes answer any questions. I know that many of you are considering this or just want to hear something I’m not thinking to say. So ask away, askers. This is our journey together- I want you to feel like you are seeing the map.

Like Boots and Dora. We are Boots and Dora.

[you’re welcome.]