Mail Day!

Earlier this week, I received an email from UPS telling me a parcel would be dropped off at my house on Friday. Since I live in Canada, an email from UPS is rare at the best of times, notwithstanding the fact that I hadn't ordered anything recently. I almost deleted the email, just assuming it was some kind of phishing email.

Instead, I opened it. After carefully reading over the email, I was intrigued. It looked legit. I didn't click any of the links in the email, but instead went to the UPS site directly and pasted in the tracking number.

Sure enough, a parcel was mailed from North Carolina, and was destined for my house.
The publisher of our book, McFarland, is located in North Carolina. Coincidence?

Nope!

Marty and I knew the book was nearly published. We submitted our final edits last Monday (March 9th) and were told "it's imminent." We assumed that meant a few weeks. Turns out it meant a few days!

UPS emailed me again on Friday, just before lunch, to confirm the parcel had been delivered. I left work at lunch, came home, and sure enough, here is what I found:

Five copies of our book!

I immediately called Marty, unintentionally spoiling the surprise for him, as 5 books were headed his way too, but UPS hadn't tipped him off. Later in the day, he also got his copies.

What a day.

Pretty cool feeling to work on something for years, never really know if it'll see the light of day, and then receive an actual physical copy in your mailbox, and somewhat by surprise, too.

Special thanks to McFarland for taking on the project, but extra props for knowing how to make this a memorable experience for a couple of first-time authors.

Of course that also means the book is out!

Last night, Marty and I put in a large order for the book, and in the next few weeks we hope to have it for sale at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and some local book stores around the London area.

You can also order the book directly from McFarland, and while you're at it stock up on some of their other great baseball books.