Twenty-one Days and Counting...

Exactly three weeks from today I will be a published author. Sometimes it's still so hard to believe that it will happen. I've seen the book; I've held it in my hand. I even looked in the back to see my picture just to make sure it was really me. Yep, my smiling mug. Wow!
So it brings to mind what happened when I got the call. I'll admit that I had fantasized about that day many times. Even though I really never thought it would happen to me, that certainly didn't keep me from fantasizing about it. After all, I am a dreamer.
Here's the gist of how it happened:
My agent had sent the manuscript out a few weeks before and I was on pins and needles. Couldn't sit still, couldn't think properly, certainly couldn't write. I mean, there were editors out there reading my stuff. How on earth was I supposed to concentrate on other things?
RWA nationals had been the week before and I was in serious regret for not having gone. I kept thinking if I had gone, something wondrous would have happened. I might have been in this huge tug-of-war with editors screaming and pulling at me, insisting they just had to buy my manuscript. See, I told you I was a dreamer! But seriously, I did wonder if it would have made a difference if I had gone.
My agent called me out of the blue to encourage me. She said she could tell I was getting a bit anxious and she wanted to reassure me. A bit anxious? Uh, yes, I calmly admitted, perhaps I was getting a bit concerned. She explained again--my poor agent had to explain a lot to me--that summer time was a slow time for publishing. I knew that. She'd told me that. Others had told me that. Knowing that didn't necessarily keep me from worrying, just made me aware that worrying was even more fruitless. She also told me she felt sure I would get an offer soon. My heart kicked up a beat. Okay, that was good news. Very good news.
Thursday morning, July 19, 2007 around 10:00.
I hate that I don't know the exact time because, well, I don't know, just because. I was in my office trying my best to be a grown-up writer and write. And then my agent called again. This time it was THE CALL.

'Ballantine has offered a three book contact. They want to do a back-to-back trilogy of your Last Chance Rescue series. How do you feel about that?'
How did I feel? Words cannot begin to describe how I felt. Ecstatic. Stunned. Terrified. Humbled. Every emotion you can imagine, and maybe some that haven't been invented, soared through me.
My dreams had come true.