Release dates are weird things. See, this book has felt "real" to me for a while now. From seeing pass pages (and marking up pass pages and wow a novel means a STACK and a half of pass pages!) to getting an ARC of my book, to a box of author copies arriving on my doorstep to handling REAL ACTUAL copies of MY BOOK for the first time... I've met my book as a book. It feels real. It's been out there dipping its big toe in the world, too--there have been trade reviews and book blogger's reviews (like this one , this one , and I'm missing quite a few but I'm typing fast here, this one ). People have read my book. I've had that stop and breathe moment--*PEOPLE have read my BOOK.* (Whether people liked it or not isn't even registering--people have READ it.) And all that happens before the book releases into the wild of Amazon , Barnes and Noble , your favorite corner bookshop that's hanging despite the odds. So w