Sylvia Day

Thank you, Jordan! I really, really appreciate your confidence in my future. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm back to feeling like the deer caught in the headlights. 8-[ I'm one of those people who watches horror movies, covers their eyes in the gross parts, and says, "What's happening? What's going?" but refuses to look herself. That's the way I feel right now.

Thank you, Teresa!! I couldn't believe it. :shock:

What a day!! :shock: In addition to becoming a Gateway to the Rest finalist this morning, Almost Too Much was selected by Evan Fogelman of the Fogelman Literary Agency as the Best of the Best Winner of the 2004 Golden Opportunity!!! :bounce:

Seducing the Widow was just announced as a finalist in the Gateway to the rest contest!! :bounce: You can read more about it here.

Hi Linda! Life is rushing ahead as always, dragging me along with it!! I'm charging through a manuscript edit now. Hard work, but the story is dear to me, so I'm trying to keep that in mind as I push myself. I love Dean Koontz!! I've read several books by him, my favorites are his Christopher Snow series--Fear Nothing and Seize the Night--both of which remind me of Fort Ord, California. I was stationed at the nearby Presidio of Monterey for a couple of years. My sister was just transferred to Fort Gordon, Georgia. I would love a magnet!!! Thank you so much for thinking of me! I can send you a SASE if you e-mail me your address.

Hi, Linda!! :hello2: You've been quiet lately. Hope you're doing well. I have a dog now too, a shitzu/toy poodle mix. He's adorable!! A little black, poofy, fuzzball. Read any good books lately? :study:

It took me a while to answer this thread, because I was hoping a solution would present itself to me that I could share with you. Unfortunately, one never did. :oops: I'm sorry. I'm hoping one of the established authors on this board will offer some advice that I can benefit from as well.

Thank you, Jordan and HelenKay!!! Kelly Harms of Avon judged the historical category and called me "a great storyteller"!!!! :bounce: Kelly Harms!!! :shock: Avon!!! :prayer: It's just too cool. I'm completely humbled by the experience. I'll never get over it. Never.

Yay!!! :cheers: I WON!!! What a complete shock!!! :shock: I can't believe I won.

Alison and Larissa blogged about favorite first lines from books. The topic was inspired by the current voting in the Romantic Times American Title competition. So... What are your favorite first lines, both your own and ones you've read?

Oh, don't worry!! I won't torture you with a synopsis. The one I'm working on is for another story. LOL And yum on the cheesecake. Let me know how you like it!!!

Jordan, I'd love to have you read it! :study: I dig feedback--the good and the bad. I'll be wrapping up this synopsis I'm working on, then I'll do a quick run-through of AToS and send it to you, probably this weekend. Hope you like it!! :pale:

Thank you for the encouragement!! It is very much appreciated. Especially today, which has been rough. :pale:

Yes, actually, the story is finished and has been with submissions at Ellora's Cave for over 4 months. :shock: (After re-reading the entry, I see it needs some editing though. :oops: ) I'm glad you enjoyed the excerpt!! I had a lot of fun writing it. It is part of a series and I've already begun the second installment, although it's on the backburner at the moment. Think Alison's SG-5 in the future with vampire heroes and you pretty much get the picture. Now if only EC would catch up with their submission overload...

My board is shot!! :cry: All my 300-something posts and topics are forever lost. :cry: Everything happens for a reason. I would dearly love to know what the reason for this is. :scratch:

I entered Ellora’s Cave author Tawny Taylor’s Writing Contest. She’s selecting one finalist a week, I’m the finalist for Week 2. I didn’t know. Sasha told me just a few minutes ago. You can read the finalist excerpt here. Be forewarned… It is a very steamy excerpt. Tawny wrote, “Congratulations to this week’s finalist, Sylvia Day, author of A Taste of Sin! This one’s a scorcher! Whew! Enjoy.” :shock: --------------------------------------------------- I write so many different types of stories from sensual to outright fire extinguisher hot, historical to futuristic, traditional to paranormal--all under one pen name. I try to explain in advance what type of story you can expect but I worry that I'll shock a reader away from reading any more of my work. It's a dilemma I will have to consider very carefully now and in the immediate future.

I've had my first mention in Romantic Times Magazine (Oct. 2004, Issue #248, pg. 12)!! :bounce: Wow!! I'm pretty excited about that!!! :D/ (Thank you, Cece, for pointing it out!!)

###### bugs and spooge cats, you've got it going on in your part of the world, Larissa!! :D

Ya see... therein lies the problem. I always assume that I WON'T get the call. :-({|= I tell myself that imagining the worst will save me the disappointment. It doesn't. It just lessens the impact by dragging it out over a long period of time, thereby making me ill. :oops: Pessimism :smt065

Larissa, I know what you mean. Go back a page on this thread and you'll see I've been nauseous for weeks too. :D

Jordan, Okay. I just caught an old post from last year's contest where Kate had all of the finalists either call her or send her an e-mail around Oct. 30th. I assumed she contacted everyone to give them submission information. I thought she read all the mss in their entirety before declining them. It's good to know that was not the case. Thank you very much!!

Jordan, Last year Kate had all the contestants submit their mss, didn't she? Do you think she'll do that again? Or am I mistaken?

Aren't we a lucky, talented bunch? I'm feeling pretty fantastic that I somehow managed to find such an awesome group of fabulous writers. I don't know how it happened, but I'm immensely grateful. :prayer:

Wow, Larissa!! I totally loved your entry. =D> It was so good. When Kelsa was struggling to unlock the door, I got all anxious! And Trent is yummy!!! You did a great job and I'm totally thrilled for you! :wav:

Thank you, Jordan! :hello2: I appreciate the vote of confidence, truly! I'm kinda in this wary, don't-make-any-fast-moves, deer in the headlights mode. 8-[