Over the Moon and Surreal Moments: 2014 Golden Heart Finalist

This morning I got the call from RWA® that my novel, “Hidden Magic,” is a finalist in the 2014 Golden Heart Contest. Golden Heart® Finalist (If you’re curious, you can visit the link the all 2014 Golden Heart and RITA finalists here.)

To say I was “excited” is an understatement. My husband was afraid I was having a heart attack. And if I had been, I don’t think I’d have cared. 😉

I’ve had many well-wishes including to “enjoy the ride,” and only now am I starting to get some idea of what a surreal kind of ride it is. Honestly, this week I’ve been trying to ignore the deadline for when contest finalists were announced, and planning on the fact that since I’m going on holidays, it could be consolation for another year when I didn’t get that call. I had already decided this was certainly the last time I was entering the contest. And I’ve been dreaming of attending this year’s conference in San Antonio for four years but doubted I’d be able to attend (where winners are announced and there’s lots of Golden Heart fun). When I got the call this morning, and the lovely caller said she was calling from RWA, I refused to let myself get excited. I wondered if I’d done something wrong, maybe there was an issue with my membership or something.

Even now, as I’m staring outside and its snowing (where the heck is spring?!?), I’m not even ranting and raving. And I can still hardly believe it’s true, more than just a tiny bit of validation, encouragement to keep writing, to keep pushing on improving my craft, and that maybe, I’m on the right path after all.