The Windy Side of Care! {It won}

Yesterday morning, after several months of waiting for the Day of Judgement for Anne Elisabeth Stengl's Five Glass Slippers contest, I discovered that The Windy Side of Care had won a place in the anthology! You know how surprised I am. I know so many excellent writers who entered this contest; when my Australian friend, Joy, awakened me with a FB message all in capslock proclaiming my win, I had some time believing it wasn't an extension of the dream I had just pulled myself out of in which I had barely squeezed onto the winners list. Subsequent congratulations from friends and re-checking of the announcement showed that my story had, indeed, been chosen. Crikey. Rooglewood Press is going to publish the anthology this June, as they said in the official announcement.

I am so thrilled and astonished and ever so slightly puzzled that I won. I knew I liked Alis and Auguste but my taste runs contrary to so many other peoples' in these things that I doubted it would last to the final round. Well. Apparently it did and now my Spring shall be extra busy with all the revisions and edits to make. I am looking forward to the challenge of working with real editors/proof-readers/publishers. It is going to be a push and a shove but I expect to learn so much. Also, getting to work with Anne Elisabeth Stengl on a project is an honor itself. This is entirely useless information, but as it turns out, my name (and thus story) is smack in the middle of the other winners since they arranged it in alphabetical order. This makes me happy; I don't find being out in the front of the pack quite terribly comfortable. :)

Thanks to the unexpected win, this means that when you have purchased and read (and hopefully loved) Fly Away Home, there will be another little dose of "me" ready for you by June! My little career is taking off to a busy start and I find myself feeling professional, breathless, and a little confused at the sheen of it. I know there were many excellent stories that did not make it into the collection, and to these authors, I still say congratulations: you had the courage, talent, and determination to actually re-tell the story of Cinderella in a multitude of ways and that is a success no matter how you view it. If it had been any of you instead of me, I would have been equally thrilled. We're in this business together, we writers. I can't wait to work with the other four authors on polishing this collection for your reading pleasure!

Also, rumor has it that Anne Elisabeth will be hosting another similar contest and has promised the cover will be even more delightful than the gorgeous one above. (!) Here's to second chances! My friend Meghan and I are praying that she chooses "Beauty and the Beast"...it is my very favorite fairy-tale. On a random note, I have a fancy to come down the aisle to "Beauty and the Beast" on my all-elusive wedding day...let us see what I fiance thinks of that idea. ;)

Cheers, everyone! My mind is full of Cinderella...wonder where I could get a pair of glass slippers?

Wrapping up the Mystery

Congratulations on Una Mariah winning the giveaway for The Game's Afoot Inspiration Plaque! I know the Rafflecopter also says that Leah W won, but that is an error on Rafflecopter's part - it keeps displaying two winners; Una was the first so I have emailed her and will be sending her prize next week!

I hope you enjoyed reading all the mystery-related posts in this Utterly Baffled blog party! I wish I could extend the fun and keep going, but you would soon have a missing persons case on your hand instead of a blog party because I'm off to save the country by way of campaigning for Ken Cuccinelli for Governor during these last five days before election. I love being on the ground working for things I believe in! So anyway, campaigning doesn't leave time for sleep, much less writing blog posts. ;)

Thank you to all who participated in the party! It wouldn't have been half as fun without you. Thanks for being patient and lovely with my sporadic posting schedule, and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! I am going to leave you with a hilarious song that Elizabeth Grace Foley sent me via Twitter. Watch it, love it, and have a wonderful weekend!

And the winner is...

Well, the poll has closed and we have our final winner for the Heigh-Ho for a Husband Writing Contest! The public voted on their favorite of the three finalists and here we have her:

 Miss Elinor Dashwood

Miss Dashwood, please send me your mailing information and I will get your Authoress Hair-Flower out to you! Also, be sure to look out for Miss Dashwood's guest post.

On another topic entire, I was visiting my grandmother this past week and she took me to a "Friends of the Library" book-store. I know it sounds intolerably dull and stodgy and altogether horrid, but here's the deal: The library puts the books they no longer want into this little store and the store (located inside the library) sells them dirt-cheap! I came home with 5 books for 9 dollars. I'd say it was a success!

Here are the books that are added to my shelf...[it isn't safe to leave me in the presence of cheap books!]

Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes

Ginger Pye by Eleanore Estes

A Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain

I can't wait till I'm done with Les Miserables (a fifth of the way through that six-inch book now!) so that I can bury my nose into these new books!