When I received the e-mail form Awe Struck accepting my first novel, the “Fox Prince”, I was on cloud nine. Bubbling with happiness

Cloud Nine

by Cornelia Amiri

When I received the e-mail form Awe Struck accepting my novel, the “Fox Prince”, I was on cloud nine.  Bubbling with happiness, I was more animated then usual at work. I followed my standard good mornings with, “Did you hear about my book?”  I e-mailed my publisher, Kathryn Struck, to tell her that I too was attending the Romantic Times convention and that I would love to meet her. She replied, “I am taking all the Awe–Struck authors to dinner on Thursday and would love for you to join us.”  I walked around work waving the e-mail saying, “Look, look; I’m going to have diner with my publisher and the other Awe-Struck authors.” 

Thursday came. I left work early and headed to the Romantic times convention.   A lady at the sign in desk handed me a goodie bag of books and trinkets. With goodies in hand I headed to the e-publishing room and spotted the Awe Struck table the moment I waked in. I had seen Kathryn Struck’s picture from the web site, but I glanced at her nametag to make sure.  It was her. I told her that I was Cornelia Amiri, the one that wrote the Fox Prince, and I just wanted to meet her. She said, “Oh, Cornelia yes you are going to write for us.”  “Yes, yes I am,” I answered. I was buoyant, elated, . . . awe struck. 

At dinner I met the awe struck authors who attended the convention.  I’ve never met a nicer group of people and through out the coming days they were always there for me. We sat together at the fabulous luncheons and dinners: the award ceremony, the Roman Luncheon, the Venetian Carnival, Kensington's 25th Anniversary Luncheon, the Mr. Romance 2000 Competition, and Heather Graham's Vampire Ball II, Dead Man's Waltz.  The highlight was Sunday's book fair where I handled the Awe-Struck table. I told everyone about electronic publishing and Awe-Struck, sold diskettes, and passed out bookmarks and pamphlets.  I made a hand out that included one of my published short stories and my URL. Five people asked me to autograph it. Wow. Oh Wow. Fans!

The convention came to an end and I signed and snail mailed the contract to Awe Struck.  I wrote two blurbs, e-mailed them and the excerpt that I’d picked out to Awe Struck. They sent me the specs for the cover art. I picked out one of the artist they use and sent the information he requested.

There is still so much to do. I am going through one more edit to make sure “The Fox Prince” is my best work.  Then I have to make galleys; first I have to learn how to make galleys.  But I love that.  I love all of it.  Cloud nine is a nice place to be.