Thunderstorms are amazing. I get to watch one as I fall asleep tonight and the lightning show is pretty damn awesome, so are the bangs coming with you. This might be the best thunderstorm I’ve had all year.
Anyways, now that the energy off of this storm gave me the kick in the rear to have enough coherent thought to write this blog post, let me get onto the right topic. (I would be dead on my feet yet if not for this, it’s been a really long week and I’m so ready to crash. Unfortunately, I needed this before I crashed though cause I won’t have time when I wake up or at all tomorrow, later today. It’s not tomorrow to me till I wake up.)
As I was saying!
I have big news.
Huge news.
Remember me saying on Tuesday’s post I thought it could be a month before I hear back about my submission? Then I learned it could be by the end of next week or sooner?
Yeah, well, it ended up being sooner. A lot sooner. As in a couple hours after I wrote that blog post.
I was just about on my way to work but I happened to want to check my email before I left so I did, not expecting anything yet. I got the surprise of my life though for I saw only a half hour earlier I had gotten an email about my submission. My breath caught, my heart starting pounding, and the world stilled for a moment as I opened up the email and started skim reading. Bracing myself for a blow at the same time I’m trying to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest.
Then my world just stopped as I skim read the email, and I shot upwards. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t form words and I dropped my phone on the bed, staring at it with wide eyes. My heart skipped and I backed away, sinking to the floor and covering my mouth with my hand. A broken laugh spilled from my lips and I just stared at my bed as reality settled in.
With a surge of need to read the email fully, I got back up and snatched my phone, eyes watering as I read through it again. Not once, but twice. Then I sank back to the floor, a joyous grin pulling at my lips, a disbelieving but excited laugh spilling forth. I covered my mouth again and couldn’t make myself breathe correctly as my vision blurred in tears of happiness.
Because there it was, staring at me in the face were the words I had so dearly hoped to read. The words I had daydreamed of seeing but had tried not to hope so much for.
“[So and so] would like to offer you a contract of publication.”
My story was one of the ones chosen to be in the Halloween anthology. Yes, little old me. An aspiring, undiscovered author was chosen among others. Others who are probably already published and have a name for themselves. And yet I was picked right alongside them.
I will see my name in print for the first time. I can truly say I am a published author soon. This is the start of so many hopes and dreams, this is a huge leap forward for me, no matter how small the company publishing me is. This is my stepping stone towards my goal. This is the start of something bigger.
This is… This is surreal.
Dreams do come true.
Darkling Dreams 