WOW - so it's come to this. Ten months ago I started a blog chronicling my journey to being published. Two weeks ago I received a phone call from my agent telling me he had just put the finishing touches on my first book deal. My picture book CAN ONE BALLOON MAKE AN ELEPHANT FLY had found a home with a well known publisher. Just like that. The contract is forthcoming but once the ink is dry I will hold in my sweaty little hands the contractual bridge from aspiring author to published, aspiring author. Perhaps one day I'll be able to drop the aspiring part but that still seems some ways off.

Since receiving the call I keep meaning to update my blog with the AWESOME news but can't seem to find the energy or words to express myself. It all seems suddenly too simple, the process too easy, the distination too known from the outset. My blog feels like a cheap lie. One more act of insincere marketing hype in an age of insincere hype.

And yet when I started my chronicle in October I didn't know. I had no idea if my first book deal would be two months or two years away. Or further. Perhaps much further. The reality is I stuck my neck out on the brazen notion starting my story would eventually lead to a tidy ending no matter how distant. The blog was both an act of faith and a candle to keep my way lit. And a fun way to let readers experience the perplexing, vexing, unpredictable journey that every artist must navigate in their aspiration to rise from amateur to paid professional (the paid part is still a bit vexing as the book won't hit stores for at least another two years).

Two years you say? Yes, the publishing time for a picture book is similar to that of an ice age. But it will be published! And one day I will walk into a bookstore and find in the farthest back corner, high on the last shelf, all but hidden from view by some Berkeley Breathed best seller, my little book waiting for me. And I will carefully dust off its cover, secretly sign it when no one is looking and place it back on the shelf in the spot now vacated by the mysteriously missing Breathed book (what can I say? I love Berkeley but marketing is marketing).

In the meantime, a few thank yous are in order:

Paul Rodeen, literary agent. Thanks Paul for taking a chance on an unknown author at a most difficult time in your life. I appreciate the faith you've shown and the kind words, even if most of them I made up and only imagine you saying. Works for me:)

Jeff Newman, illustrator. Thank you so much for believing in the Balloon story and putting your name behind it. You were the doorway to editors that would never have taken a look otherwise. I know the final illustrations will be AMAZING!

Justin Chanda, VP of Children's Publishing at Simon & Schuster and all around nice guy. I cannot tell you what it means to have your vote of confidence. And to work with you as editor is an added bonus I'll try not to squander. Thank you thank you thank you (too many thank yous? I don't think so).

UW Writing For Children Program. I didn't even know what a picture book was until I started the UW program in the Fall of 2009. The instructors, classmates and coursework were life changing.

My Writer's Group. Thanks ladies! Honest feedback is hard to come by. Honest support even harder. We have much to celebrate. And so much more yet to come. Right?

SCBWI Western WA. Despite still not knowing what all the letters in the acronym mean, the organization is unparalleled. Attending the last two Spring conferences allowed me to meet both Paul and Justin face to face. And that has been just one of the many blessings you've brought in the last year.

And last but not least, MY FAMILY. Thank you Anna & Paul for unwittingly being the playground for my imagination. I learned more about character, plot and voice telling you bedtime stories than from any course I could have ever taken. Thanks for your sleepy-eyed attention and generous sense of humor when story lines derailed, as they so often did. And thank you Kelly for keeping the eye rolls to a minimum.

Does a book deal mean this blog has run its course? I don't think so. I have no intention of retiring it just yet. I hope to have much more to tell while learning the rigors of bringing a book to publication and as I continue to chase after the next book deal, and the next...