Something truly AMAZING has happened. Not revealing details here just yet, but I’ll give hints: It has to do with that incredible literary agent I signed with on May 1 and that new novel I’m in the midst of writing.

Here’s another hint: It deserves CAKE.

Technically, it deserves TWO CAKES.

Something happens when your dream starts to come true: You realize there’s more to the dream you’ve been carrying, the one you thought was yours and yours alone—it’s not only your dream anymore. There are all the people who helped you get there—and you hope they know you will never forget. The people who encouraged, and stuck their necks out to speak up for you. The people who wanted to give you a chance. The people who were there with you from Day 1, who remember you at age 18, so naive, sneaking down under the porch of the abandoned house on campus to talk about what you wanted from life, playing with your nose ring nervously and confessing you wanted to be a writer though you had no idea what that even meant. The people who read your very first short stories and encouraged you to keep writing. The people who said yes. The people who said no but took the time to tell you why. The people who said try again.

The dream would be flimsy if it was made up only of the good. There’s the bad too—you can’t forget the bad. That’s what made this all worthwhile. Ten + years of trying and failing and trying and failing makes me appreciate this so much more than if it had happened straight out of the gate, the way I used to wish it would.

I didn’t get the big break when I was 22. Or 24. Or 28. Or… let’s stop counting. I thought that meant I’d failed.

But you know what? I kept trying; I’m so glad I kept trying. And now I will be working immensely hard to prove I’m worth it.

I’m still reeling.

Enough talking in circles. Details soon! But more importantly? Some HARD WORK.