This evening, after seven and a half years of work, eight drafts, countless revisions, and a title change, my first novel, Song of the Wren-Falcon, just went live. It is now available for sale on CreateSpace, Amazon, and the publisher's website, splashdownbooks.com.
I've got to be honest: I'm kind of shell-shocked right now. I mean, it's been seven years of constantly thinking about and trying to improve this novel. The last few months have been a tornado of trying to get every little last-minute detail ready for publication. (My publisher and I were still changing things last night, for crying out loud!)
Now, all of a sudden, it's over. 100% complete. At the same time, I've suddenly rocketed into a brand-new chapter of my life, now as a published novelist. Wow! This is a goal I've been working towards for the last twelve years, but now that it's here I barely know what to do with it. Like I said, shell-shocked. I'm really not quite sure what to do with myself. My best friend will testify, I just keep talking and talking in the hopes of making sense or saying something profound, but it's not happenin'.
I'm hoping this is normal. Any of you published authors out there care to share your experiences with your milestones? I'd love to hear about them. It might make me feel a little more normal.

Congratulations, Lady Mhuire!

Being shell-shocked sounds normal to me, since it's natural with any major accomplishment, and there's perhaps a unique kind that comes with writing. I'm always a bit unsure how to feel whenever a new story or article of mine is published in a magazine, and I imagine it's much more perplexing to sort out one's emotions with a longer published work such as a novel.

What is the story? Congratulations.

Congratulations! I'll have to look into this.

I think I would be pretty shell-shocked if I had just got a novel published. I can only imagine that what you're experiencing is totally normal.

Huge congratulations on getting your book published! I know what you mean about feeling shellshocked, because I felt the same when I finally got published. It was a dream I'd had since I was little, and it was hard to actually believe that after so many years, the dream had finally come true.

That's so exciting! Congratulations, Lady Mhuire! *Adds to wish list so she can find it whenever she has the money*

As for your question, I've never published anything, so I don't know, but I can well imagine it would feel pretty odd at first.