*breathes into paper bag* THE ODDS WERE EVER IN MY FAVOR...AGAIN!

So, back in September, I entered the Windy City Chapter of the Romance Writers of America's Four Seasons Contest (phew, say that five times fast!).

Anyways, I entered this contest on whim, because I wanted to get some feedback on my first 30 pages.

Then, in October, I found out I had advanced to the finals!!!!!!! YAY!

So I then proceeded to freak out for two months, waiting to hear back about the results.  I missed a call today, listened to the voicemail, and promptly started to scream my head off in the car (figuratively, not literally, of course).  I guess you can see where I'm going with this - 

I WON THE YA CATEGORY FOR THE FOUR SEASONS CONTEST!!!

I WON I WON I WON I WON!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ahem, ok, I'm still pretty freaked out and excited and I SERIOUSLY CAN'T BELIEVE I WON, Y'ALL!

I made it past the first-round judges (who left fabulous comments), and then an editor and agent thought enough of my story to rate me high enough to win in my category (and also leave me fabulous, thoughtful comments!)!

I am SO PROUD of ASTRAL, my sometimes brain-killing YA Sci-fi story!  So, so, so proud that I could write something that was able to win a contest and get awesome, encouraging, and constructive feedback!

Once the contest results page goes up, I'll link to it in this post.  Until then, I'll be victory dancing around my apartment :) :) :)

Much love and many thanks to Jeannette, the best CP ever, who had to deal with all of my angsty contest emails and is a pretty legit cheerleader - and to Sara, my BFF, for screaming at me on the phone and telling me that she almost peed herself when I sent her the news (you already called yourself out on Facebook, so I think I can call you out on my blog hahaha).  I almost did too, and I promise that I'm not as calm as I sounded on the phone :)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!