Wings

My parents were big Paul and Linda McCartney fans, and the album we had was called Wings Across America. But that is not what I'm talking about here.
But it's a great album.
Ahem, what I'm talking about is the book, Wings.
One day a couple years ago, Kevin came home from school and told me that the wife of one of his friends had just published a book. I thought that was really awesome, since I have decided that writing a book is on my list of Things I Want To Do Before I Die. I'm always impressed when people write, finish, edit, and then actually publish books. My dad wrote a couple books when I was little, which he self-published. A neighbor in our ward at home published a book through like Deseret Book or Covenant press or something. I eventually found out that Aprilynne's book is being published through Harper Teen-- in New York City!
I am quite impressed.
We've had dinner with the Pikes a few times, and they are both brilliant, funny, fascinating people. I'm really excited to read her book that actually got published, especially after hearing about all the fun stuff she's gotten to do (like book tours and meeting the editing/publishing/marketing team who's working on her book) as her book gets published.
I guess that "having your book published" doesn't instantly equate to "seeing your book on the shelf." I guess it's more like giving birth to an elephant: you find out you're expecting a book, and then you get to edit and finalize stuff for a year or so. Eventually they give you a look at your cover, which is probably exciting like finding out if your elephant is a baby boy or a baby girl elephant.
Another exciting milestone is when they release your ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copies). Those are paperback early-release versions they give out... well, early.
And the reason I'm bringing this up today is that Aprilynne is having a give-away on her blog. A give-away of a few of her ARCs!!
So go enter the contest!
It's a book I've been looking forward to for a long time, and while I feel selfish entering the contest solely to win, I would feel better if you all entered it too! Then when you win it, you can let me read it after you....
And I also just wanted to share the exciting news that my friend's book is published! Yay!