First Books & Trilogies

Life has been a whirlwind these past few weeks.  First, I heard Crimson Romance wanted to publish my book DUKE BY DAY, ROGUE BY NIGHT.  (Woo-hoo!)  Then Handsome Son #2 came home for a month long visit.  (So good to have him home!)  He was shortly followed by Handsome Son #1's family.  (Loving time with my DIL and grandsons!)  And, frequent visits from Darling Daughter #2, who's lovingly constructing my new website for an end of July unveiling.  (Y'all are going to be very impressed with her mad skills!  Hint: I'm pimping her out so she will be hired by authors I know.) 

Praise God, the goodness just keeps coming.  I feel so very blessed.  We've had a trip to Orange Beach, (our first family get together with everyone, except HS#1, who's deployed) for the first time in many years. 

And now I can announce the most wonderful, wonderful news!!!  Darling Daughter #1 and her hubby are expecting their first baby!!!!!  I'm over the moon and back, dipping the silver spoon!  My third grandchild will be entering the world sometime early next year.  DD#1 is doing fine.  She's had some health issues to contend with, but she's a trooper, and according to the doctor, so is her baby.  (She wouldn't let me announce this until she was 14 weeks along.)  And the time has come to shout it out from the rafters, y'all!!!

In the midst of all this, I've been editing the partial of my second book in the Nelson's Tea trilogy, THE CAPTAIN'S PRIZE.  What turned into a quick edit, has turned into a thorough revision, however.  How was I to know that the book I'd entered into a contest last year was bad?  Ugh!  I'd like to think that I've learned so much in the past year that my eye has picked out what doesn't work and what does.  Anyway, my editor says if she likes book two, Crimson will contract it.  So my goal, during this entire time of goodness, has been to inevitably wow her socks off.

Meanwhile, I've been joining author networking groups at Crimson, and am now listed on the Lady's in Red blog, as well as under the author list on the Crimson site.  There's so much to learn and do.  And Crimson has been wonderful!  I've been meeting other Crimson authors online and working hard to put everything in place so I'm not runnnig helter skelter when my book comes out.  I even have something pretty to post until my cover comes out around September.  Woot!  Isn't it pretty?

I'm going to the RWA National Conference in a few weeks.  I haven't had any time to prepare, though I did do a little shopping today.  I'm preparing a bit of promo and redoing my business cards too.

And that's not all.  I'm back in the saddle again.  I must send off my finished partial today.  I've got goosebumps and frog warts and pig tails and horse flies to contend with.  My nerves are aflutter.  Can I impress my editor enough to experience this joy again?  Will she like book 2 enough to bring my trilogy to life?

I'll never know the answer until I send in book 2, will I?  Have you ever been afraid of reaching the next rung in the ladder?  What did you do to keep yourself in the game?