Thirteen Digits and a Small Author Meltdown 😱📚 I have officially registered my first ISBN.

My book has an ISBN. (Or it will, within up to two month processing time.)

Please allow me a moment to be completely normal about this.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.

Right. Excellent. Very composed.

There is something wonderfully ridiculous about how emotional a number can make you. I’ve spent so much time thinking about characters, rewriting chapters, untangling plot problems, and deciding exactly how much emotional damage these fictional people should inflict on one another. And now I have thirteen digits that belong to the book I’m preparing to put into the world.

Apparently, administrative milestones can make me a little feral. We’re learning things about me.

Writing A Stitch of Shade and Soul has meant building a world I can disappear into—and, hopefully, one readers will want to disappear into with me. There’s magic, danger, questionable decisions, a king with some fairly substantial baggage, and a heroine who would very much like everyone to stop discussing her reproductive potential.

You know. A relaxing little project.

I love these characters. I care about their world. I have also spent an unreasonable amount of time arguing with sentences about them.

Somewhere between all that writing and rewriting, I’ve been learning the publishing side: formats, covers, ISBNs, and the many decisions involved in turning a manuscript into a book someone can actually buy and hold.

Today, one of those decisions became a milestone.

And I want to celebrate it.

It’s easy to keep moving the point at which you’ll let yourself feel proud. Finish the draft first. Finish the edits. Get the cover ready. Publish. Make a sale. Reach the next thing. (I'm beginning to realize there will always be a 'next thing.')

Today, I’m letting myself enjoy this one. I took another concrete step toward publishing my first novel, and that deserves a happy little announcement on the internet. Possibly cake. Certainly an excessive number of exclamation marks.

To everyone who has listened to me talk about this book, read a passage, offered encouragement, or patiently accepted that fictional people occupy a considerable amount of my brain: thank you. I’m so excited to share more of this journey with you.

For now, A Stitch of Shade and Soul has its first ISBN, and I will be riding that high for the foreseeable future.

Thirteen digits. A huge milestone. Absolutely no chill. 🖤