Sometimes, the SQUEE just sneaks up on you...

The one good thing about moving is that it consumes your life to the extent you’re able to forget about a lot of things you’d obsess over otherwise.

Like when contest finalists are announced. ~g~

I was up on a ladder Thursday morning, stripping wallpaper from my kitchen, cursing my fate and the people who hung it on unprimed walls with way too much glue, when the phone rang. I debated climbing down the ladder (as you all know, there’s a good chance I’d fall off the ladder at some point anyway, so climbing up and down would just be tempting Fate a little too much), then decided I needed a break anyway.

I didn’t recognize the number, but I’m glad I answered. It was one of the Coordinators for the National Readers’ Choice Awards , sponsored by the Oklahoma RWA, calling to tell me that The Secret Mistress Arrangement was a finalist for Best First Book!

SQUEE!!!!

Many phone calls and emails had to be made, and I didn’t make my way back up the ladder for a good while. But when I did go back to the wallpaper stripping, my attitude was much improved.
Imagine my shock when several hours later, I got another call from NRCA, telling me that The Secret Mistress Arrangement was a finalist in the Short Contemporary category as well!

SQUEEE!!!

(Note to Lynn and others – no, it never occurred to me that BFB would mean a SC final, too. It was a massive shock.)

This is my first year entering contests with published books instead of manuscripts, so to final – much less double final – is exciting and provides much-needed ego stroking. (Take that, anonymous reviewer who called my book “lame.”)

My Secret Mistress Arrangement is up against some very impressive – and intimidating – competition, including my friend Rhonda Nelson’s Letters From Home. However, it is an honor to final, especially when the competition is so tough.

Winners will be announced at the NRCA reception at the RWA conference in Nashville in July. Very exciting stuff, y’all.

SQUEE!!!