Anticipation

[Stephen Brayton]

The waiting is the hardest part. Every day you see one more card. You take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part. - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Anticipation, anticipation is making me late, is keeping me waiting. - Carly Simon

Yes, the above two references speak of intimate times with a lover yet to arrive, but I haven't been able to get those two songs out of my head for the last couple of weeks. Because finally, finally, after years of writing story after story, after years of critique groups hammering my novel to death and forcing me to think and re-think my characters and plots, after years of searching for a publisher, after months of waiting for edits, after long arduous hours of editing, editing, finally, more editing, after all the hype and promotion and marketing, and despite a glitch, I get to fulfill a dream. After February 15th, just five days from now, I can add the title 'Published Author' to my name.

The excitement has been growing. I'm ready. My family is ready. My friends and supporters are ready. I hopefully have sparked a readiness in the media. The time to hit the ground running and kick for the uprights has now arrived. (Yeah, sorry about the badly mixed metaphors, but who cares?)

When you read the book, you'll find an acknowledgment page thanking all the folks who've helped me to be published. I was allowed only a certain number of words so I'd like to take the space here to give more thanks to more people.

Of course my parents and family. You've supported me throughout the years and kept pushing me to continue writing. To Karen, Kat, Sean, Mary, and Jennifer at Echelon Press for staying tough and supportive. For giving me advice and a couple of smacks upside the head when I needed them. To Angi, Mike, Virginia, Sara, Susan, and everybody else in the writers' critique groups I've attended throughout the years. I never would have gotten this far without you all pointing out the stupid parts of my story and opening more doors when it came to pitches and publishing. To David who calmed my fears when it came to marketing. To Sunny who opened more doors in networking. To all of the folks I interviewed for research, from the lighting industry, to the police, to the insurance company representatives who provided me with a key scene in my story. A special thanks to Kim who has been a good friend throughout the years, who has traveled the long miles with me, who laughs at my jokes, who has provided enough fodder for a score of stories, who kept pushing and has sacrificed so much for me and the writing craft. You are so close to experiencing the dream and I want you so much to feel the high.

And of course, thanks to all of my friends, associates, Facebook buddies, and the taekwondo crowd who cheer me on and congratulated me beforehand.

I hope you all will enjoy the book as well as the one being released in July. If you don't like them, please tell me. I can take it and I'll try harder on the next one. If you like them, tell me (my ego also anticipates praise. Lol), but most importantly, tell your friends.

The waiting is the hardest part.

The waiting is almost over.

Thank you!

PS. Don't forget about the contest. Details to come next week.