It was just about ten months ago when I first posted a story on Open Salon called “Night of the Hunter,” about the time when my cat Homer—who I’d adopted some twelve years earlier as an abandoned and unwanted blind kitten—chased off an intruder who turned up in my bedroom in the middle of the night.  The story was a chapter-in-progress from what I hoped would eventually be a book about Homer called Homer’s Odyssey.  It was an idea that I was starting to lose faith in, as for months before the Open Salon post what my agent and I repeatedly heard from publishers was that Homer’s story wasn’t special or distinctive enough…nothing that would make for a viable book.

“Night of the Hunter” was promoted as an Editor’s Pick, and from there it went viral with a speed and scope that even those of us who believed in Homer’s Odyssey were unprepared for.  It turned up on Fark.com, Digg, Reddit, Propeller, pet websites, “women’s stories” websites, and more blogs than I could keep track of.  It was mentioned in a Columbia Journalism Review article about the “gripping reads” that could be found on Open Salon.  I received emails from all over the world from readers who were touched by Homer’s story and eager to share recollections of the cats who’d meant so much in their own lives.  And, in a twist that amused my agent to no end, I heard from agents eager to represent Homer and—most thrillingly—publishers equally eager to publish his story.

Within a week of posting “Night of the Hunter,” I had a firm offer from Random House's Delacorte imprint.  Even when I’d dared to dream big, I’d never dreamt Random House big.

It’s been a grueling and exhilarating ten months, and now The Day is here at last: Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, Or How I Learned About Love and Life With a Blind Wonder Cat hits bookstores today.  Foreign rights have already been sold in 10 countries.  The initially modest 20,000 print run has blossomed to upwards of 100,000.  No less a person than the VP of Merchandising for Barnes & Noble told USA Today that Homer “will be huge.”

The past ten months still feel like a dream.  I keep expecting my husband to shake me awake, saying, “Weren’t you going to work on that book proposal today?”

So on this, The Day That Is The Day, I wanted to thank Open Salon and my wonderful, wise, gifted, and endlessly optimistic fellow bloggers who were so integral in getting us to this point.  The name or handle of everybody who commented on the story is mentioned with gratitude in the book’s Acknowledgments page.  But that’s still insufficient thanks for how all of you and Open Salon have changed my life.

And special thanks to "The Bibliofiles" here on Open Salon for the lovely review of the book they left on Amazon.

To see photos of Homer checking out a box of his books, and of Vashti—one of my other three cats—claiming it for her own, visit my blog at www.gwencooper.com (for some reason, the files are too large to load here).

Scarlett, curmudgeon that she is, remains resolutely unimpressed.  Cats!  ;-)

And for those who never read “Night of the Hunter,” you can find it here: http://open.salon.com/blog/gwen_cooper/2008/10/01/night_of_the_hunter

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!