The roses Superman bought me on Monday.

Wow! Well, that was a crazy coupla’ days. … Crazy week, really.

After finding out I was a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart competition, I quickly found out what exactly that meant — I had no idea what a wild ride I was going to be on.

There were a gazillion emails, tweets, Facebook updates, loops to join, secret societies to join, and handshakes to learn (okay … kidding on those last two). There were beta readers to contact (and thank), critique and writing partners to reach, and friends and family members who’d been so supportive that I wanted to write to and thank each personally. There were champagne glasses to toast, roses from Superman to put in a vase, a celebratory dinner with my parents, and lovely congrats to acknowledge. There are pictures to take (haircuts to get beforehand!), photos to mail in, registrations to fill out, a gown to buy (egads!), tickets to purchase, and more. There were more than 1,000 messages to keep up with on a new 2012 Finalist loop alone, other previous-finalist loops to be part of, blogs to join, special memberships to join, plus open calls from agents for GH finalist submissions, and even personal emails from agents asking us if we had representation, and — if not — would we like to submit?

It has — to say the least — been wild. Continue reading →