Ann Littlewood was a zookeeper at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, for 12 years, working with a wide variety of mammals and birds. After a stint in corporate America, she is delighted to be back in the zoo world, at least mentally, writing the Iris Oakley mystery series.

Tuesday night, a long improbable chain of causality led to last-minute free tickets to Jackson Brown’s concert here in Portland—terrific seats, a full house, and finally, toward the end, the git really rocked out. So “Running on Empty” has been stuck in my head all week.

But, personally, I’m running on full. Eight years of hard work and lessons bitter and sweet, and last month, NIGHT KILL debuted. My very own very first hardcover real publisher mystery, the one set in a zoo that I’ve carried in my head for over a decade before I even started writing it. The cover is classy, it smells new, and it’s gotten some good reviews that I am 98% sure were not written by friends.

Was it worth it? Yeah. Not for the money. This one’s a loss-leader, what with travel expenses, bookmarks, animal crackers, and so on. It’s paying off in entertainment and education. This is a crazy business, and I’m running blind.

Last Saturday I had my first signing. Now I know the difference between a signing and a reading. I hung out in Seattle Mystery Bookstore with a bunch of relatives and friends who live there, and we had a blast. They bought enough books that I made my first best-seller list: September 2008, Seattle Mystery Bookstore. Really. It’s true. See for yourself: http://www.seattlemystery.com/Bestsellers/bestsellers.html That’s me, right behind Kathy Reichs and Elizabeth Peters. How cool is that?

The next day, Sunday, I had my first reading at Murder by the Book in Portland. You live in a town long enough and you behave yourself, you’re likely to end up with a lot of friends. They showed up. They bought all the books. Then we partied. Monday was a slow day at the Littlewood house. Coffee… aspirin…ibuprofen…more coffee. Ugly, in a really, really good way.

The beat goes on. Next up: Bouchercon. Heading east, running into the sun. I am actually going to be on a fricken panel at Bouchercon. Who ever woulda thunk it?

So here’s a word to all you out there sweating bullets over dialog and conflict and query letters to agents, if you need some reason to believe—yeah, it’s worth it. Keep doing it. The wheel will turn and your number may come up. Then you’ll be the one running on.