On Friday, November 2nd, I received the phone call I’ve dreamed of for a very long time.  Joni Labaqui from the Writers of the Future contest, telling me that I am a finalist in the 3rd quarter of Volume 29.

I’d like to say that I was calm and collected.  The truth was, sadly, much different.  I believe my first words were, “You’re kidding, right?”  I wonder what percentage of finalists ask that very same question.  My guess would be that it’s quite high.  I mean, truly, how often does a hoped for dream become a reality?

Once I was assured that she was not kidding, my mind had gone into full-on short circuit.  When asked, “Where did you hear about the contest?” my answer was, “I don’t know!”  Then I babbled on for a bit about spending a lot of time on the contest forums (which are filled with welcoming, creative, awesome writers,) and eventually I decided that I’d always known about the contest.  This is patently not true, given that the contest began in the early 1980’s and I was born…somewhat earlier than that.  Still, I honestly do not remember when I learned about it, and I do remember being aware of the anthologies a long, long, time ago.

Will I win?  No idea.  Right now I’m just so thrilled to have been selected as as finalist that I’m not even letting myself think that far ahead.

In the meantime, I will await my next phone call with anxious anticipation.  I do hope that, win or not, I manage to hold an intelligent conversation without the interference of a few overwhelmed tears.

I’ll know soon enough.  For now, I’m going to hold onto this feeling, and catalog it for future use, if I ever have a character learn their dreams may be coming true.