While their numbers might not be legion (yet), my clients make me so happy. One just turned in an amazing revision that shows just how far she’s come as a writer. Another blew me away with a strong, beautifully-written character who jumps off the page and inspires me. Another client of mine, an author/illustrator, sent me a hard copy of her portfolio. It is so stunning that flipping through it brought tears to my eyes.

And these are just the things that have happened today!

This is why I love what I’m setting out to do. I get to work with amazingly talented writers and artists to bring their work into the world, to create books! What could possibly be cooler than that? I hope I can look back on this moment — of sitting there with my first illustrator’s portfolio in my lap, of reading a home-run revision, of falling so far and deep into a manuscript that time disappears — many years and many sales and many clients from now and proudly say that I’ve never lost this joy, this sense of wonder, this love for books and the crazy, wonderful, inspiring people who bring them to life.

No career is without its ups and downs, and I know some days I’ll glower at the slush, turn off the phone and want to crawl back into bed, but I know full well that I am the luckiest person alive to have found something I love to do and to be starting on this journey.