Courtney Ellis

So… over the past couple of years I wrote a book. Last March I submitted the manuscript for Uncluttered. Later that spring I revised, hunted down citations, and worked with a fabulous team of editors who alternately served as exhorters, critics, and cheerleaders, depending on what each paragraph needed most.

I got a first peek at the cover art in late spring and began to dream about actually holding my book in my own two hands. What would that moment be like?

When I heard that my launch date–book lingo for “you can buy it at actual stores time”– was February 1 it felt like an eternity away. February was nearly a full year from when I said a prayer and hit “send” on my email, hearing the swoosh that meant my book was headed to the publisher. Turns out that books, like most good things in life, take time.

But… sometimes things happen a little faster. A few days ago I got word that my author copies – most publishers give an author a box or two of books as part of their contract – were on their way to my house.

And yesterday they arrived.

You guys, Christmas came early! 

I can’t describe what it felt like to pop open that cardboard box and finally hold the book in my hands. It was a little bit bigger than I’d imagined, and so glossy and cheery and solid. 

I turned to Daryl and said, “It looks like a real book!” Somehow I’d always held onto this little bit of doubt in my mind that there would be an actual, physical, paperback at the end of all of this brainstorming and editing and revising and blood and sweat and too much coffee.

And yet.

Want your own copy of Uncluttered? Christian Book will have them back in stock to ship January 1. (They had a shipment in earlier this week, but they sold out!) If you preorder at Amazon, it’ll arrive in your mailbox on or before February 1.

There’s also a forthcoming (free!) study guide that will be available for download online, in case you want to read it with your small group, friends, Bible study, or a random bunch of strangers. I’ll post that link here and all over my social media when it’s available. An audiobook version is forthcoming as well.

Merry Christmas, friends. May all your literary dreams come true.

(And if you want to see a video of me opening the box for the first time, along with Daryl making a cameo as we try to figure out how to film using my computer in the two minutes he had free before running off for an appointment, it’s up on my author Facebook page and is good for a laugh or two.)