Dazed and confused

A short and appallingly self-involved post from me today.

But I have an excuse. Because on Sunday I got a phone call telling me that The Slightest Provocation was nominated as a finalist for the RITA, in the long historical category.

(Which, if you don't know, is Romance Writers of America's peer-judged industry award for published authors. There's lots more information about the RITA, and the Golden Heart (for unpublished authors) at the RWA Web Site, including the categories and all the finalists. And there's also a thought-provoking critique and discussion (hundreds of comments) of the RITA at Smart Bitches.)

And no, I didn't expect it.

I mean, yes I know that a nominee is supposed to say that she didn't expect it. But you'll have to believe me in this case. In fact, Jane Lockwood can attest to the fact that I made her promise not to tell a soul until I vetted the call from the very kind and intelligent-sounding woman who said she was an RWA board member, but you never know...

...because part of me really did believe that it was all a hoax, dreamed up by the popular girls in my high school, who had (I imagined) maintained contact through the decades while they took their time perfecting the dastardly plan of impersonating an RWA board member and calling me at 1:00 PM EST, March 25, 2007.

Which definitely sounds more than a little bit insane and paranoid, as I read it over now. But high school never quite ends for some of us.

In any case, I plead guilty to being insane and paranoid, giddy, surprised, and astonishingly happy and thrilled. On Sunday I filled the kitchen with smoke when I burned lunch; we figured we'd be safer getting out of the house, walking on the beach, going to see a matinee of Music and Lyrics (very charming, I'm a sucker for underachiever heroes) and eating dinner out.

And while I haven't burned anything today and am capable at least of blogging -- concentrating on the the book I'm currently writing still feels a bit beyond me. Who knew that a RITA nomination would feel sort of like those times one is prepping for or recovering from a minor medical procedure and gets to lie around eating soft food and watching DVDs of Rome?

Which I just might do...

I'll come up with a real post next time, I promise!! But right now you must excuse me while I collapse into another fit of unseemly giggles, superfluous exclamation points, and entirely self-indulgent ellipses...