What do you mean you're 'just a PhD'? It's more about the quality of the work and results that decides whether a paper is accepted, rather than the qualifications of the author (in theory, that is).
As for keeping everyone informed, whenever we had papers doing the rounds for journal acceptance, we'd keep each of our other co-authors informed about each step of the process. It's half the fun! It's like a roller coaster ride with ups and downs, amendments, rejections, guessing who the reviewers may be from the feedback received, the political repercussions amongst the ego-driven researchers. There's almost enough emotional content for a reality TV series.