It’s been more than a month and I still feel all kinds of humbled and vaguely surreal.

I’ve been enjoying my two children’s books already out there on Amazon, and trying to find more time to focus on the marketing thereof—if anyone tells you it’s easy to be an indie author, they’re selling something themselves!—yet I’d also sent a couple other manuscripts to agents and publishers at the same time, because you never know.

A piece of great advice I heard in the earlier part of this year was, “You have to have a tough skin and a sense of humor about this process.” These two things can be applied to just about anything, and they certainly hold true for writing when you’re doing the “Like me?” rounds with your creations.

So when the email came with the ubiquitous Re: Query [subject line], initially I thought it was another rejection. I was prepared to take it in stride, but all the same, I wasn’t going to rush to open it.

“Oh great, another returned query,” I said. (Not to myself; my husband and guinea pig were also in the room.)

But this email had an attachment.

And that attachment had this as its label: “Author Agreement.”

My brain caught up a few seconds after my eyes.

“Oh…my…goodness,” I said, possibly. I said something, at any rate. My husband looked up from his laptop. Our guinea pig looked up from his food dish. Okay, that last part I made up. Guinea pigs have priorities.

I still couldn’t quite believe the words meant what they said they meant, but I clicked nonetheless, and yes, there it was–

MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing had accepted my manuscript, “The Squeezor is Coming!”

And I couldn’t be more thrilled.

What’s super-cool about this publishing house is they also care about kids and adults who have dyslexia. I talked with the founder, Tannya, about how a certain font (Dyslexie) has been shown to help people read. Just think how marvelous it is for parents with dyslexia to read books to their kids with some peace of mind.

So now I’m in the midst of a whole new, exciting process. I signed the (standard) contract, and just went through preliminary blocking out of text and illustration notes. I’m looking forward to experienced guidance. And, sometime in the near future, to see the Squeezor in print!

“Dare to dream” is MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing’s motto. I dared. You should, too.