Trouble Beneath The Waves received a Special Mention at today’s SCBWI Writer’s Day. For some reason I thought winners of the contests (2 honorees in each category—Most Promising Manuscript and Special Mention) had already been announced and printed on the SCBWI website, so I almost fell out of my chair when my name was called. I also had my ticket picked out of a pumpkin and won half off admission to the next Writer’s Day. And I have a new immediate goal of pouring over my manuscript and getting it out to the editor I met today and whose business card is in my possession. For 7 hours I listened and learned in an appealingly dimly lit auditorium—with a lunch break (during which I met a YA writer from Tehachapi whose novel-in-progress sounds utterly intriguing). For 7 hours there were no dirty diapers in my life, no pets to appease, no tantrums to breathe through, no boo-boo’s to kiss, no meals to ponder and produce.

I AM A HUMAN BEING!

The welcome I received upon returning home, however? Those little arms squeezing my neck as he declared his Wuv of Mama? The dog slobbery-ecstatic? My husband’s huge smile and congratulations? The house dissolving instantly into its own unique blend of (functional) domestic chaos? My best experience of the day.