two months out

Today is T-minus two months from the debut of my first novel, FORGOTTEN. I’m getting antsy, so I decided to remind myself of how fast time flies by looking back at what I did/was doing two months before other major milestones in my life. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Two months before I gave birth to twin girls, my husband and I moved from California to Washington state. The size of an orca with the speed of a snail, I was a ton of help with both packing and unpacking.

Two months before my wedding, I was growing out my hair and spending a lot of time at the gym.

Two months before I graduated from college, I decided to move to Boston.

(A year and) two months before I met my husband, I was planning a move to San Francisco (where I’d meet him…at work).

Two months before I graduated from high school, my friends and I went to Cancun. We had incredibly big hair and dangerously real tans.

Two months before I started my first attempt at a novel, I quit my last “real” job.

Two months before I began writing FORGOTTEN, I was reading a book about how to get your infant twins to sleep at the same time.

Two months before right now, Paramount bought the movie rights to FORGOTTEN. Two months before that, I walked out of the theater after seeing True Grit and said to my husband, “Hailee Steinfeld would be an awesome London.”

And what am I doing two months before FORGOTTEN hits shelves?

I’m finishing edits on book two and thinking of book three…and four…and five. I’m biting my nails, hoping that everyone likes book one, and hoping that when people don’t like it, their comments won’t bother me too much. I’m responding to blogger interviews in the US and the UK, with topics ranging from an interview with London to a list of my favorite books and why. And I’m continuing to be astonished by the fact that these bloggers care what I have to say.

I’m being a mommy, laughing with sweet girls who haven’t a clue about what I do for a living other than the fact that it means I’m in the office sometimes instead of playing with them (ouch). I’m celebrating with my husband when good news comes in and fretting with him when it doesn’t.  I’m teasing him (still) for thinking writing was a good hobby for me to do in my spare time. Now that it’s looking more like “career,” I’m still trying to find that spare time.

I’m dreaming of vacations and staring at my children while they sleep and growing my hair out and exercising and going to movies and drinking wine and hanging out with that guy I met in San Francisco and craving more time with my sister and brothers and friends and learning about Twitter and trying to wean myself off of Starbucks.

I guess, as was true two months before any other milestone, two months before the launch of my first book, I’m just living my life. But most of all, two months before FORGOTTEN, I’m remembering…and being thankful for all that I have right now.