Signing Update

I posted prematurely on Facebook that I was signing with my agent yesterday.  Turns out our nephew, Eric, opted to stay one more day so I changed my epic lunch plans. (If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!)  I’ll now meet with Kristin Lindstrom, of Lindstrom Literary Management, on Monday to sign a contract with her in person. To explain how excited I am would be like trying to explain any high point in your life – the words come out garbled and the meaning is never quite conveyed with any measure of accuracy.

I can tell you I go from one extreme of feeling on top of the world, to the low of feeling like I’m going to be sick from the adrenaline high.

This week has been amazing on so many fronts.  We got to spend some time catching up with Eric – it was our first time seeing him in ages and he just came back from a one year tour in Iraq.  We went out to dinner with my folks last night to celebrate Eric’s safe return home and my news with being offered representation.

We played a board game on Eric’s first night here, and I received further proof that my brain is not anywhere near being back to normal.  I didn’t remember the rules on how to play the game so I read the directions and proceeded to play badly for the next 45 minutes.  My husband and my daughter both made comments like “I never get this many blue cards, you usually do” and “This is the game mom always wins.” And yet, I couldn’t remember anytime I’d won and couldn’t remember if I even liked the game.

I didn’t dwell on it much, just took it with a grain of salt and moved on – what more can you do?  But it prompted Pete to talk to me about it later and we had to address the whole “it will take months to get back neurologically to where I was before Lyme’s hit” issue again.

Moving on… The other highlights to my week were stopping the IV meds on Wednesday and getting the picc line removed today!  Yippee!!  I had naively thought I would be hot-tubbing and taking a long bath tonight.  Those plans will have to be relegated to tomorrow, because I have a pressure dressing on for the first 24 hours to make sure the wound heals properly.

In retrospection, this week seems surreal.  The call from Kristin, the terrific feeling that someone in the know really likes my book, the subsequent pipe dreams that followed the call… It’s so hard not to get my hopes up and yet I really do hope with all my heart that this leads to something.  Getting an agent is the first step.  Getting a good agent can make all the difference in the world.

I did my research. I believe in this woman.  Now, I just have to face the fact that this may be the first BIG step in my new career. I’m excited and terrified all at once.  I know I’m not like the other writers that struggle for a decade to get where I am right now.  Sure, I’ve worked hard, but so have they – who’s to judge who’s deserving in their work?

I know what I really am – Lucky.

To quote Oprah, because I think she said it best “I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”

I won’t argue that I haven’t prepared.  I know authors that have signed deals without even having a blog ready – and yet here I am with three blogs, a website, Twitter account, Facebook profile and business page, Goodreads account, Library Thing account… and just about anything else I can think of to promote myself.

And yet what I really feel is…

Grateful.

The road ahead will be rough at times.  I have more doctor visits in store and I have to see if my Lyme’s comes back.  But overall, I’m grateful for my life and the people that are in it.

Stay tuned while we see what deals may be in store (hopefully) for V V.  I’ll blog about it and reveal details when I can about upcoming deals (I’m sure there will be time constraints on that).  The future seems blindingly bright and yet scary as well.

I wonder… what will it hold?

Have a great weekend everyone!  I’ll tell you about the lunch meeting on Monday afternoon!

C.J.