Happy Mail Day

Usually when I get the mail, all I find are bills.

And junk.

Sometimes I get coupons from my mother.

Or magazines.

But most of the time I just get bills and junk.

When I went to get the mail the other day, all I saw were bills. I flipped through everything as I stood outside the mail box. Or mail tower, really.

“Bills, bills, bills, Amazon…” I muttered. I paused. Amazon? What in the—wait. Wait. Could it be? I ripped open the envelope and saw a check. My first check for my book The Swimmer’s Assistant.

“YES!” I screeched.

The woman who had passed me walking her dog turned around, eyebrows raised.

“Sorry,” I shouted and then rushed inside my house. She probably thought I had lost my mind. Or was drunk. I would have told her why, but then she might have thought I was bragging.

“Guess what?” I yelled when I got inside. And then realized no one was home. The kids were still in school. Tom was at work. So I had to tell Max the Cat, who was trying to take a nap on the couch. He didn’t even lift his head up as I sat down beside him. No matter. I kept talking. “I got my first check for my book, Max!”

No movement. He was thinking, “Maybe if I don’t acknowledge her, she’ll go away.”

I told the kids when they got home.

“Great,” Tommy said and then went for his iPod Touch.

“Can we get more princess stuff?” Natalie wanted to know, tugging on my shirt.

When Tom came home, I freaked him out by charging at him.

“Jesus. What?” he asked, hands up.

“I got my first check for my book!” I danced from one foot to the other. “My next goal is to get an actual agent. I know there’s someone out there for me. I just have to find her. Or him.”

“You’ll do it,” Tom said with a smile.

“I plan on focusing on my writing when you deploy. I have three books in the works,” I continued.

I’d love to one day have an ACTUAL book out. Yes, it’s awesome that I have one on Kindle, but I want people to be able to go into a store and pick it up. That’s another one of my goals.

Thank you to everyone who has given me a chance and have purchased The Swimmer’s Assistant. I appreciate you all and I love reading the reviews and the e-mails.

Thank you for helping to support me in my dream.