Cornerstone Press at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point accepted my manuscript of short stories in December 2024, a wonderful Christmas present for me! They gave me a publishing date of February 2027, a time somewhere in the distant future, which felt light-years away, but comforting because it gave me plenty of time to prepare. I signed a contract, reordered my stories, and sent Cornerstone an updated manuscript.

Then came the first lull, a point in my journey to publication when not much happened.

About eleven months after acceptance, I asked authors for book blurbs. When the blurbs began arriving, my book felt real again. I was overjoyed by the complimentary words written by wonderful writers who said things about my stories that I felt but struggled to put into words whenever someone asked me to describe them.

Then came another lull.

But at the end of April 2026, a graphic designer from Cornerstone sent me an email with eight different wonderful designs, and each one had something I loved. But the more I thought about them, the more I realized that none of them quite fit my stories. I talked to my nephew who is a photographer and who has read my stories, and he sent a selection of photos. His photo with the lamp on the table and the sunlight streaking into the room became my favorite.

For the next six weeks, I showed friends, coworkers, and fellow writers photographs of cover designs. “Which ones do you like best? I’d ask. Always the photo with the lamp on the table was in the top three, usually a person’s first or second pick.

I asked my graphic designer to please use photo with the lamp on the table. She cropped some distracting objects from the right of the photo, making the image stronger. Then she presented me with several font options. After we agreed on the font selection and size, she sent the photo off to the editor-in-chief who, wanting to give the cover a sense of movement, added the long dash in front of the word stories. A perfect touch! It’s amazing how a small detail can make a big splash!

The third lull, lasting four weeks, was broken by meeting the editor who is in charge of the team who will be working with me and my book. We had our first meeting via Zoom, and I feel she’s a perfect fit for me. Our next step is content edits. From here on in, I’m not sure there are going to be too many lulls in the march to publication.

Oh, and I’m getting a puppy in December or January. A puppy and a book! One of them will give kisses. One of them will fulfill a life-long dream. Both of them will keep me up at night for a while. O joyful new beginnings.