SCBWI's On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award!!!

Right.  So.  Remember that secret sort-of contest that I entered?  The one that I didn't want to talk about, or mention by name because it was Voldemort I didn't want to jinx anything?  Even if you don't remember that blog post at all, hang with me for a second.

I already posted about one contest that I won the YA Category for - the Windy City RWA's Four Seasons Contest - and although I'm super stoked (and grateful) that ASTRAL won that, I now have another thing to be grateful for...

You ready?!?

I'M ONE OF THE INAUGURAL WINNERS OF SCBWI'S ON-THE-VERGE EMERGING VOICES AWARD!!!

ASTRAL WON!!!  WOOOOOOOOO!

 I did this.  In a Chili's.  The floor was clean.

There were over 100 entries, and 3 winners were picked - the folks from SCBWI that I talked to were so excited about my story, which made me really excited, and I just don't even know how to express how wonderful this whole thing is!




Actually, when I found out I won, I'm pretty sure I spent all of dinner doing this:

I might still be doing this, actually...

And then there was a little of this, 'cause I was meeting friends for dinner:

Also, trying this over the phone is reeeeeeeeeeeeally difficult.

There's always that little hope when you enter contests that you'll win, but when it happens...well, let's just say I was not prepared! The wonderful, amazing, generous people at SCBWI (and Martin and Sue Schmitt, my Grant-givers) will pay for my conference tuition, my hotel, and my flight to New York City in February because...oh, that's right...

I GET TO GO TO THE SCBWI WINTER CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK!!!!!


Yeah, we're getting to the super gushy part of this post. Also, if Julie Andrews walks by me in New York, this is what will happen.  Actually, this is what will happen during the WHOLE CONFERENCE.

I am so, so, so proud of my story (and also still in shock)!  I'll definitely have more updates as they develop, including something about who my SCBWI mentor (AH! I get a mentor!!!) is, how the conference goes, and how I will most-likely fangirl if I spot Julie Andrews (she's one of the speakers! AH!) from a distance.

Here's the link to the description of the On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award!!!!!!  Once the actual announcement is out, I'll probably faint, and then print it out and frame it, and write another blog post about it :)

STILL can't believe it! A million thanks to Jeannette, my first CP, who read ASTRAL as I was writing it, loved it from the start, and who has an amazing critiquing super power! Also, shout-out to my Lit Reactor Peeps:Jen (we're also Sorority sisters which is totally awesome!), Jamie, Elodie, and Christine, who have all given me some awesome direction and feedback for my story, too!  I seriously have the best writer friends ever, and I would not be able to make it through this roller coaster of emotions if you weren't here to DM me on Twitter or respond to my angsty emails :)  Oh, and a thankful shout-out to Sus, who has pretty much made my day today with her enthusiasm for my story and her tweets and emails :P


Seriously. If I ever meet any of you in person, this is what's happening.

I'm almost done, I promise!  I just wanted to make a quick plug for taking a chance and putting yourself out there - I would not, WOULD NOT have won this amazing thing if I hadn't taken the scariest risk ever and entered myself in this contest.  Sometimes you just have to close your eyes, hit the send button, and hope for the best! So go out there and take those risks!  You won't regret it!!!



Or, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Do one thing every day that scares you."

In totally unrelated news, I saw "The Hobbit" (in 48 FPS) this weekend!  It was good, but at times I felt like I was in a History Channel/BBC Documentary/Miniseries?  Did anyone else get that feeling?


I'll let you know when they post the actual, formal announcement :) :) :)

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!


All of my lovely .gifs came from the best Tumblr for authors ever!