Stepping Through...

I look back over the last two weeks in amazement and I know it still hasn't sunk in.

I've stepped over the threshold though, into what I consider my tropical paradise. For all intents and purposes, I'm now a signed author, which means that in the very REAL future months I will be able to lay claim to a title I have only ever DREAMED I could call myself-

Published Author

Little ol' me!

It's still very surreal and as I sit here typing, I'm overwhelmed by the emotions the thought stirs in my heart. It's so thrilling it brings tears.

I know they aren't the first I've shed in joy over this and they won't be the last because I'm an emotional person by nature. I know there will be other moments when it sinks in a little more, when the idea becomes more concrete in my mind and it will hit me all over again.

I welcome those moments, more now than ever before, because this was a dream I hadn't hoped to realize so soon- if ever. I've heard of people "living the dream"- I just never thought I would be one of them. Though I love fairy tales and fantasy I'm a very "reality" based personality. I don't like to kid myself into believing the impossible. I make sure the bills are paid before we spend money on non-necessities. I generally stick to routine, though I'd love to occasionally drop everything and be spontaneous. I guess my feet are planted pretty firmly. I'm grounded.

But now- I opened the door. Crossing the threshold I find myself standing at an intersection, staring out at all the different paths that veer off in varied directions from me, out there up ahead. Some I must start down now in order to merge with other ones later up the road. The way isn't perfectly clear, but I know that what's out there is what I've been looking for- it's my "impossible" becoming "I'm possible." Haha!

I hadn't thought of it before, but that's it. "I'M" possible.

And I'm stepping through....

And So It Begins...

Stories of Love- Transformed and Given Wings to Fly.

Yesterday I signed my very first book contract with Turquoise Morning Press. Mind you, I'm still an "aspiring" author- I will always be ASPIRING to more, but over the coming year, I will no longer be able to say I'm unpubbed. The dream is becoming a reality and quickly, I might add.

My morning yesterday started off with a low hum- but I knew what I was going to do once the kids were off to school. I was going to open my email and sign my contract for Castaway Hearts, my historical romance.

Technically this began at the start of February when I submitted, but the hum has grown into a pulse-throbbing buzz over the past week since I received "the call" or in this case, the email.

I have kept this on the DL because it was my very first submission and of course there's the fear and nerves I had to wrestle with, though I wanted to scream it from the roof tops that I took the plunge by finally putting myself out there.

But---there was also the knowledge that most first subs don't make it. At least not that first time around. Sometimes it takes a lot of submissions and rejections before you can find a home for your manuscripts. That gave me pause to hold my tongue and not breath a word of it but to the fair few I trusted with such knowledge.

My mom is at the core of this ginormous step because she insisted I hit "send" while we were on the phone that day. She swore she wouldn't get off the phone with me until I did it and so there it was. She and I both laughed when I cried out—

"There, I hit send....I can't take it back now!"

To be honest- I was prepared for a rejection more than a contract offer. I don't really know what I expected, but I will say that I still find myself sporadically caught between tears of joy and the laughter of elation- somewhere between jumping up and down hysterically like a teenage girl and pinching myself to make sure this isn't a dream.

It's surreal and fantastical and I keep having to remind myself to just take it one breath at a time.

Deep breaths to steady myself. Deep breaths to calm me when the forms and information seem to be coming from all directions so quickly that I get overwhelmed. It's just a matter of letting it sink in and that might take a little while what with the forms I have to fill out- info, bio, blurbs and cover art ideas, adjusting my social networking sites, etc. Over the next several months and weeks I will post as I get things taken care of, to share in this journey- as I said I would which will include when I get my author's bio up on the publisher's site- I'll post the link to that and the community I'll be involved in. When I get a website up and running- I'll post that too, so you can find me, join me, follow and what not. (Speaking of- I still need to link to my Twitter from here, where you can follow me now if you want. I'm still new to it though, so there's foundation work and building yet to be done.)

I'll keep you informed, so stay tuned!