Of all the things I thought I’d have to learn in becoming a professional writer…learning to design flyers wasn’t one of them. I’m going to be celebrating my launch party at Constellation Bookstore here in Maryland and I have created this flyer for the event. You’re welcome to come! I will give away chocolate

I thought I was prepared for it. After all, I’d had work published in magazines before. I’d had months to get familiar with my Harlequin book cover. Goodness, it’s been more than a year since I finished the story and sent it in. I’ve had plenty of time to adjust to the idea that I’m going to be a real author (whatever that is) with books for sale wherever books are sold.

But when I walked up to my front porch this afternoon and saw my box of author copies, the clouds parted, rainbows appeared, birds sang, and unicorns pranced through my front yard. I would have let out an undignified squeal, but my neighbor and his adorable sons were standing right there, so I had to try to play it cool. That lasted about thirty seconds before I found myself foisting a copy upon him. I doubt he reads romance, but I couldn’t help myself!

Then, I went inside, took some time to compose myself, and curled up on the couch with a book. My book. Yet, I was looking at it with new eyes. I nervously turned it over and read the back cover copy–which I had never seen before.

From the heights of Mount Olympus to the depths of the underworld, new author Stephanie Draven spins a story of fate and seduction…

Not a bad start, I thought. I would read this book.

I carefully open the cover and peek at the first page. A hot and steamy excerpt. Eek, did I write that? Oh, and look at all those superfluous conjunctions I hadn’t noticed before. I flip to the Dear Reader letter, in which I discover a missing comma in the first sentence. Okay, there are going to be errors. I tell myself to stop looking for them.

Somehow, I’m still grinning like an idiot. This might be because my name is at the top of every other page. Or it might be because these are my words, my story, my sweat, and a few of my tears. It’s not the first book I’ve written, but it’s the first time I’ll ever see a novel of mine in print, so I savor it.

I love e-books, but the sensation of actually holding the book in my hands is different than seeing my stories on my e-reader. I hold the book close and fan through the pages, delighting in the feathery texture against my thumb. I hold it close and sniff it. Paper and glue and ink. But it’s more than that. I am acutely aware that I’m holding in my hands the culmination of years of hard work. I’m also holding in my hands all the sacrifices my family has made to get here.

I’m holding countless queries and stamps and envelopes. I’m holding all the rejection letters and all my late night fears that I just wasn’t good enough. I’m holding the critiques and workshops and the kind comments of those who told me not to give up and the not so kind comments of those who told me I was wasting my time.

That’s a lot of emotional weight for one little book to carry. Somehow, it manages. I used to tell myself a story that one day I’d be published. I had to keep telling that story to myself until I believed it. Now I do.

I notice the little tagline under my series decal and laugh.

Mythica: Myths that come to life and love…

That’s about right.

Nymphs are my favorite paranormal creature. They embody what the ancient Greeks hoped and feared women might be like if unfettered by the normal rules of society. Primal. Powerful. Capricious. Captivating.

In my Mythica series for HQN Nocturne, two of my heroines are nymphs, so I had the bright idea to make up a ‘Which Kind of Nymph Are You?’ quiz. It looks as if someone else beat me to it, and with much prettier art work than I might have come up with. I’m not surprised at my own result–which I’ve posted below. My latest heroine is an underworld nymph and I clearly identify with her.

But now I hope you’ll take the quiz and post your results. What kind of nymph are you?

What Is Your Nymph Type? Underworld Nymph The Lampades are the nymphs of the Underworld in Greek mythology. Companions of Hecate, the Greek titan goddess of witchcraft and crossroads, they were a gift from Zeus for Hecate’s loyalty in the Titanomachy. They bear torches and accompany Hecate on her night-time travels and hauntings.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

In lieu of ranting about printers and all the artistic things that I’m not good at, I will just show you my bookmarks. They have a lot of black on them and the colors don’t show up quite right, but hopefully you get the idea.

Being an ignorant novice at all this, I ordered 500 of them because they were only two more bucks than if I’d only ordered 250 of them. I’m not sure if this is going to be way too few, or if I’m going to be trying to pawn these off on people for years, but I guess we’ll find out.