Killer's Instinct is ALIVE (and in my hands)

I'm still trembling a bit from what could be described as one of the coolest experiences of my writing career so far — if not my entire life.

A box of Killer's Instinct, the creeptastic zombie tale I co-wrote with Judith Graves arrived at my house Monday, and it was with much excitement and shell-shock that I tore open the box and held the first copy in my hand.

The past few months have been a blur of cool creative career news, and while I'm looking at 2014 to be THE year for it all to come together, there is something special about holding your first published novel in your hand.

But this book is special for a few reasons. Not only did I have the opportunity to co-write with Judith Graves, who writes arguably some of the best YA I've ever read (seriously, check out her SKINNED series), and work with Leap Books' talented (and tough!) super editor Kat O'Shea, but my talented (and humble) husband drew some of the artwork for Killer's Instinct, and along with my adoration, he received published credit.

Cool, right?

I thought so—so I made him sign my copy of the book.

Then, I bounced around the house, wrote status updates, posted pictures. Finally, hubs and I celebrated with a bottle of Italian champagne.

It's back to the grind, with many personal and professional deadlines looming. But I'm still riding the high of this week's career first — opening the first box of my very first novel. Not an experience I can ever recreate, and nor would I want to.

To learn more about Killer's Instinct, you can check out this blog, and to get your hands on a copy, you can buy it here. To my friends, family and (new) fans, thank you so much for your love and support and for making THIS such an amazing experience.

- Dawn