OMG!  I Won!!!

I still cannot believe it.  I actually won the 2011 Golden Heart for my novel, Spy in the Mirror.

Wow.

The impact it’s already had on my career is amazing.  Agents, editors, and booksellers literally pressed their business cards into my hand as I exited the ballroom.  Considering the many “we love this … but,”  rejections, and the major book deal that literally fell through only two days before, it was unbelievable.

I felt like Cinderella at the ball.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Golden Heart, it’s the top prize for unpublished literature in my genre.  It’s like winning an Oscar, but for books.  I never thought it’d happen to me!  The award was presented on July 1, 2011 in front of an audience of three thousand editors, agents, authors, and publishing executives (in black tie no less!) at the NY Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

I was so surprised, I didn’t even prepare a speech.  Thank goodness for all those plays and speech competitions I did in high school or I’d have fainted in shock.  Somehow I muddled through without saying, “you like me … you really, really like me.”  <G>

I’ve signed with a top agent who is so sweet and helpful, it’s like a dream.  I just finished a rewrite of the project and now the hardest part of the ordeal is coming.

The wait.

Waiting to hear if she likes it.  Hoping to hear she loves it.  Desperate to hear an editor is eager to gobble it up.  <G>

Won’t you keep me company as I wait?  With the rewrite finished, I’ll be blogging more often.  Blogs are new to me, so tell me if I’m doing this right.  LOL.

Sending you hugs,

Diana Belchase