Thanks for a Great Week!

School started on Monday, and even though I wasn't actually ready for summer's conclusion, it's been a great week! Let me tell you why...

People are reading An Illusion of Control and legitimately talking about it... online and in the real world. It's very neat!

Two of my favorite people, Kay and Sue, finished the novel and "loved it."

Kelly and Kathy wrote the most eloquent words about An Illusion of Control and posted their comments on social media... which resulted in more sales and more conversation! (I am having so much fun with this book's release! And my friends are going above and beyond to help with its promotion!)

People were talking about An Illusion of Control at trivia! Like, they called me over to their table to talk about it! And my team got third even though we only had two and a half players (Victoria didn't show up until after halftime) and played the worst game of our lives!

Before school on Friday, I stopped by Bantam Coffee Roasters and was talking to Brie about my novel. She told me that Sarah (my number-one fan) had mentioned that there's a Brie in the book and as we were discussing this, guess who came into the shop. Sarah! And Sarah said she's going to tell all of her educator coworkers about An Illusion of Control so hopefully some of them will read it as well!

Sarah also told me that it was refreshing to read about her fictional friends (both Sarah and I consider ourselves to be friends with just about everyone who lives in Lake Caywood) who are dealing with the same school-board issues folks are dealing with in real life. I love talking to Sarah about my books, you know? She says the best stuff.

Sooo many coworkers told me on Friday that they were going to be receiving their books that afternoon and were excited to spend at least part of this weekend reading. Lynn is going to be finished with the novel by tonight (she posted on my Facebook page this morning to let me know!) and Shawn played An Illusion of Control's playlist for her art classes yesterday (now they know who Elvis Costello is!).

I had dinner with my parents last night (Tommy's pizza for the win!), which meant that I could brief my mom on all the magical events of the week. I started with Kay and Sue, moved onto Kelly and Kathy, summarized trivia and my conversation with Sarah, and then recounted all of the kind words shared by my coworkers.

So, having put so many of the week's brightest moments into words, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who is helping to make An Illusion of Control's release such a fun experience for me. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!