The first date chosen for publication of my novel was November 6, 2012. Then someone in sales or marketing realized that this was, in fact, Election Day, and probably no one in America (except for my parents, I suppose) would care in the least about a new novel concerning a middle-aged mom from Boston who moves with her family to a small Southern town in 1962. Someone then floated the idea of moving the "pub date" (as we call it) to the Spring 2013 list. This freaked me out completely since I had told the universe that the date was fall 2012 and I had all kinds of invitations lined up. Adding to my concern was the fact that a book about Florida published, say, in April would be coming out at the END of the season there, which would be less than ideal. Fortunately for me, my publisher listened to me. Not only that, but the pub date was actually moved up, to October 2, 2012. I was thrilled, especially when I realized the book would be out in time for me to attend fall festivals such as the Southern Festival of the Book in Nashville and the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading. It turned out to be a good choice of dates for another reason as well: If my book had been published on its original pub date, Nov. 6, it would have arrived in stores while millions of Americans were suffering from the impact of Hurricane Sandy.
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