It's been a week of accomplishment. We have finished college applications! Never would I have imagined a process so wrought with anxiety and confusion and angst. And yet, despite the tears, the avoidance, the nagging, it brought us together. At least, once we got over the "you didn't go to college here, so you don't know anything about applying to colleges here." I couldn't argue with her. There was a steep learning curve for me. What did all those SAT scores mean? Why did some schools quote their SAT requirements out of 800 and others out of 2400? Did all colleges have supplemental essay requirements? (almost all). What is a Common Application? You mean we're supposed to actually VISIT colleges? In Canada, these are all somewhat foreign concepts. At least they were when I applied to "University." In Canada, it's not even called "College." Here's a new useful "Obama" tool to assess colleges that I've found helpful.

Many essays needed to be written. I learned the beauty of Google Docs where we could both be in a document making changes at the same time. I could type a question and watch as she added the answer to her essay. Through this whole process, we each gained a new-found respect for each other. I learned more about my daughter through those essays than in any conversation I'd ever had with her. She learned my value as an editor (and hopefully something a little more profound).Now it's a waiting game. It's strange to think she won't be here next year and yet I am so excited for her to be moving into such a new and formative time of her life. I remember when she was a little girl, trying to imagine what she would be like as a big girl and now I wonder what she will become as an adult. A "launch" seems like a pretty good metaphor.

My other launch this week has been Writer.ly, the website business I co-founded with a writing friend, Kelsye. Writer.ly is an online marketplace for writers where they can post jobs and then receive bids from the editors, book designers, website builders and anyone else they might need to get their work published. It's been eight months incubating, so to have it launch feels like a pretty big deal. Kelsye and I spend the weekend obsessed watching the site as the number of people creating profiles grew, the same way new mothers watch their infants eyelashes grow.I hope you will spread the word about Writer.ly to any writers, editors, illustrators, designers or anyone else you know that might be involved in the publishing industry.

Exciting times!