I just received my first box of hardcovers.

While I was on the phone with the reporter for the NY Daily News, my doorbell rang. I opened it to find a large cardboard box on my porch. My books!

As strange as this may sound, the first thing I did was flip through the pages and smell. The new book smell is way more viscerally satisfying than the new car smell. Especially if the ink you're smelling is in the shape of words you wrote.

They caught me by surprise. I didn't expect them for several more days. The first thing I did was deliver one to my mother, who was baby sitting my nephew over at my brother's house, a half-mile away.

It's weird to finally have them, almost strangely anti-climactic. I'm excited, but not as excited as I thought I would be. Perhaps it will take a few days to sink in.