Behold, it was very good.

"This is a sad moment," I said to my co-worker, forlornly holding up my apple core, gnawed to the seeds. "This was a good apple. Now it's gone."

He's the type of co-worker who understands why getting all sentimental over an apple's demise is funny. Or maybe he's just polite. Either way, he laughed.

I do think I was partly serious, though. It WAS a good apple, and I would have happily continued biting, chewing, and swallowing for an hour... had the apple permitted.

This giveaway was great fun. I checked my blog far more often than necessary in happy expectation of more comments. Thank you all for participating! Reading your comments was rather like opening gifts, and I smiled a lot.

Yup, this giveaway was fun. Now it's over. And I really underestimated how hard it would be to only give ONE book away instead of one book to EVERYONE who entered.

I managed to master my sentimentality long enough to push the fateful "generate" button, and this is what it said:

And then the confetti flew.

Metaphorically speaking.

Comment #6 was written by Rebekah Miller. Congratulations, Rebekah! I'm all excited for you because you're a fellow artist and I know you'll love the layout and art of the book just as much as the words. Miraculously, I have your email address... I'm sending you a message to ensure you have mine and can email your mailing address to me. I'll send your delicious book as soon as I know where to send it. 

Thanks again, everyone! I have the best friends and readers, and no one can convince me otherwise.

Meanwhile, my yearning for an everlasting apple ebbs in the presence of robust, steaming coffee.