Last Wednesday, Tirgearr Publishing in Ireland offered me a contract for my first novel, Celebration House.

In the last few days, I’ve thought and thought. I asked fellow unpublished writers to give me their opinions on the contract. I contacted the leader of my local writing guild, but no response. I queried the local law school, asking if a professor or a law student would review the contract. I was told their services are for senior citizens only.

So I turned to the people I trust most: my husband, my daughter and my mother-in-law. They all diligently read the contract. None of them could find a questionable clause, i.e. author shall sign over first-born child. Sorry about that, Megan.

I googled the company. Tigreaar has more than 30 e-books available for sale on Amazon. My contact, Kemberlee Shortland, has published numerous romance novels.

Last night, I attended a new writing group. I sat and listened to these other writers for two hours. They shared their words, and they shared their excuses. One young woman said she hadn’t worked on her novel for a year because she was too busy with college. A self-published writer said she was too busy with her newest grandchild. These writers didn’t bring their stories in printed form, so they read aloud to me. More excuses: the printer was misbehaving or they didn’t have time before the meeting to print their pages.

And I think of myself, all of my life, I have wanted to be a professional writer. I always talked about this, but I never actually did it. Until “The Celebration House,” I had never finished writing a book. Now I have. My middle-grade novel, “Bone Girl,” is complete and next weekend, when I attend the Western Washington children writers’ conference, I’m shopping the manuscript around for an agent or editor who loves it as much as I do.

And so it comes down to me: do I take this leap of faith? Tirgearr Publishing is a small, independent publisher that opened its doors in February, 2012. Nothing haughty or high-brow. No six-figure advance. No office in New York City. Do I leap?

Yes. I do. The Celebration House will be published this summer.

Hands and arms inside the cart: Next, the art of self promotion.