how do you spell aaaaaagggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!?
Hello, hello! I am returned from the beautiful mountains of West Virginia. And Virginia & Maryland, actually, since I drive through all three to get there & back. :-) It really was gorgeous down there. Yes, it's gorgeous here, but the farther south you go, the warmer it gets and the more flowers and birds are out, so it was a lovely treat.Now, normally I would dive right in to telling you what a wonderful time I had & reporting everything I heard throughout the weekend. But I'm going at things a bit backwards this time because I am just too excited to keep this to myself. (As hinted at from the shriek in the title of this post. *g*)
On the way home last night, I stopped at the post office to pick up whatever mail had piled up over the weekend. Well, the June issue of Romantic Times happened to be there & I just couldn't resist opening it up to see what kind of review FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN had gotten. I had forgotten it was going to be reviewed, actually. I mean, I knew which issue it would be in & I knew it was coming up, but I hadn't paid much attention to when I thought the magazine would arrive or anything like that. If you have a user name & password at the RT site, you can even log in a bit early to find out what ratings new books have gotten, without the actual review. But, of course, I got busy, & I try not to obsess about that sort of thing, anyway, so I really had forgotten I was even suppose to be on the lookout for a new review.
Anyway, as soon as I pulled into the drive, I took a couple of deep breaths, closed one eye (because we all know things aren't nearly as scary when you decrease your vision in some way *vbg*), & flipped to the series romance review section. At first I just skimmed. I saw the "Top Pick!" moniker, but wasn't surprised since they often start with one of those. Then I skimmed a little further & saw that my name was the very first author name mentioned.
Aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!! That's exactly how it sounded when I screamed, & I swear I probably woke the neighbors. (They're kind of used to this from me by now, though. I'm not saying they like it, only that they're no longer surprised when strange noises or bizarre occurances come from my direction at all hours of the day & night. :-P)
I screamed. Then screamed again. Then broke into a series of shorter, higher-pitched little yips as I jumped out of the car & started dancing around.
I should probably explain that this is my very first Top Pick! from Romantic Times, & I have always, always wanted one. (So I'm shallow--sue me. LOL) Plus, those of you who were around during my long, sorrowful lament on this story may remember that FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN was one of those books that--to paraphrase Anne Stuart--had to be dragged into submission kicking & screaming. I loved the characters & the story, but as the final installment of the "Dakota Fortunes" continuity series, I had a lot of balls to juggle, a lot of characters to balance, a lot of plot threads to weave in. And then my editor asked for some rather extensive revisions that (aside from making me feel like a talentless hack, as revisions often do) had me worrying that the entire story was just a jumbled up mess that no one would ever be able to make heads or tails of.
The galley version of the story, when I finally got it, did alleviate a bit of that concern, as I read through the book & thought, "Hey, that's not so bad, after all. It's even kind of good." *g* But I'm a writer, so I was still somewhat neurotic about it. (You did know that all writers are neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, & perpetually about three seconds away from a nervous breakdown, right?)
The excellent review from CataRomance that I received only a few weeks ago also helped, but this 4 1/2 Top Pick! has me absolutely over the moon. I've been dancing around, humming, & e-mailing everyone I know. But don't worry, when cruddy stuff happens, I do pretty much the same thing--minus the dancing & humming. :-D
As soon as my heart rate drops back down to normal & my feet once again touch the ground, I will start telling you about my weekend. Be prepared though...I didn't come home with nearly as much industry news as just plain fun stuff.
Until tomorrow, you know the drill...happy dance to the tune of "Heidi got a Top Pick! Heidi got a Top Pick!"
If you don't dance, I'll know. And, yes, there will be a quiz. *vbg*
