They're Heeeerrree (Said in a Poltergeist Movie Voice)

Okay, the ARC chant did it. The ARCs are here at last! I only got five this morning. But in the next couple of days I should get all the books I need for the blog tour. It's such a cool feeling holding a book in my hand that not so long ago was just an idea in my head. It finally seems real. Of course they aren't the final hardback copies, and I have published other books before. But this is an initial print run of 40,000 hard back copies. It's placement on bookshleves nationwide.

Honestly, until I had the book in my hands, there was still a tiny voice in the back of my head whispering, "It's not real. Something will happen to make it all fall through."

But hey, now it's real! Would you blame me if I sleep with one under my pillow until the final copies show up in about three months?

Funny side note: I told my boys (pictured above) that next week we were going to have an ARC mailing party.

Boys "What's that?"

Me "It means we are going to stuff, label, and insert letters in over 150 envelopes to mail out books to my blogger friends."

Boys (Think for a minute.) "Will there be food?"

Me "Probably."

Boys "Will there be other kids?"

Me "Nope. Just us."

Boys "That doesn't sound like much of a party."

Oh, well. At least I'll be having fun. Which is good, because as much as it pains me to say it, Indy 4 was something of a let down. I'm sure if I hadn't gone in with such high expectations it wouldn't have been as bad. I went in looking for another 10, and what I got was maybe a 6 1/2. The sad thing is, most of the movie was a 12. Classic Indiana Jones thriller. But a few scenes, and the ending in particular, just had us all shaking our heads and asking, "Why?"

That being said, we all applauded at the end. (Well most of us.) And I will go back and see it again. And I will buy the DVD. It is a good addition to the trilogy, but in my opinion it is not as good as any of the first four. Honestly, if I go back with the right expectations, I could probably bump it up to a 7 or even 7 1/2. But I really, really, wanted it to be a 12.

One other funny thing. We left at 10, although it turned out we could have gone at 11:30 and gotten decent seats. The two theaters weren?t even sold out. But that says more about Payson, Utah than the movie. Anyway, without even discussing it, we all brought books to read while we waited. So here are all these rowdy teenagers in line, and sitting on the floor is my me, my wife, and our four kids all reading away. Made me proud

Back on the ARC side, I will be sending out e-mails over the next couple of days with final blog tour details to everyone who has signed up. Last time I sent out an e-mail to everyone on the tour, I only heard back from about 2/3rds. So if you don't hear from me by Monday, check your SPAM filters or send me a message. Can't wait to get these out and start hearing back from you!