What Cherie said about the simultaneous joy and terror of the First Book Process is entirely true, and one thing that’s made it a little easier for me at least is how awesome the more established writers I’ve reached out to have been. Cherie’s post is a perfect example, albeit an example that goes above and beyond the call. Intellectually I know everyone started out somewhere, but there’s no law saying anybody has to make time for the next freaked-out newbie, especially if she’s a perfect stranger.

Which brings me to something I wasn’t yet able to say when I wrote this post back in October or whenever but am glad to say now. If not for the duplicate title I might never have had a reason to exchange emails with Cherie in the first place, and although certainly a few emails do not a deep correspondence make, I am so pleased to have gotten to know Cherie to the very limited extent that I have. She’s pretty awesome.