We hit another important milestone with The Finding Place yesterday when many, many boxes of books were shipped from the printer’s to the warehouse at Red Deer Press. I drove up to their offices immediately to collect my author copies. How thrilling it was to hold the book in my hands for the first time! Visiting Red Deer Press itself was equally exciting: being introduced to everyone who works there, seeing displays of all the wonderful books they have published… and then realising The Finding Place was displayed among them! It’s hard to believe, at times, that this is really happening.
During our visit, I was asked to sit at an oak desk and sign copies of my book. This was, of course, the very first time I had ever signed copies, and I have to admit my hand was shaking just a little. The experience was surreal. Seeing the title page, with my name, and then signing underneath it as the author.
The release date for The Finding Place is officially set as 15 September. Books were apparently being packaged and shipped out from the publisher to book sellers all day yesterday. On Amazon, my book shows as available for purchase. The same is true on Indigo. And I spent the evening yesterday opening, closing and reopening a box filled with copies of The Finding Place, not quite able to believe what I was seeing. It has been a long journey. And while the book is mine in many ways, seeing so many copies of it reminded me of the true meaning of ‘release’. This is where I let go.
From this point on, The Finding Place belongs to its readers.
