A phone call at 4:30 pm

''Posted on the Squeetus Blog February 06, 2006 12:41 PM PST. ''

Will you guys allow me some more holy cows? 'Cause, holy cows.

Max was having some blueberries and crackers for a snack in his chair. I was washing the dishes and talking to a woman about doing a school visit when the other line rang. I usually avoid answering the other line but I thought it was Dean and I'd just tell him quickly that I would call him back in a minute so he wouldn't worry about where I was. So I hit that flash button.

Me: Hello?

Deb: (Bloomsbury publicity director and all around gorgeous person) Hi Shannon, how are you?

Her voice was full of/aching with/exploding with news. It made me very nervous.

Me: Fine...

Deb: Are you sitting down?

Oh no, I thought. They're taking away the Newbery Honor. It was too good to be true. She's calling to tell me it was a mistake.

Shannon: Oh, is it bad news?

Deb: No, no, another accolade.

I obediently hopped onto the kitchen counter, though I didn't feel like sitting. I wanted to pace. What on earth could it be? Could Lynne Rae Perkins have turned down the Newbery Award, and as a runner-up I was being asked to step forward and fulfill all the rights and duties of said office? My imagination truly failed me.

Deb:  princess academy  made the New York Times Best Seller list.

Me: (Springing off the counter) What?! You're lying. No way! No way!

Deb: It's true. You'll debut at number 7!

Me: (pacing in earnest now) What? I can't believe it. No way! No way! (yeah, I get pretty eloquent on such occassions)

Apparently, for me anyway, receiving the Newbery Honor requires shaking, stuttering, sobbing, and curling up in bed, while getting on the NYT best seller list invokes pacing, leaping, and exclamations of incredulity. And that went on for about two minutes until I remembered the poor woman on the other line and switched back over.

So, you see now about the holy cow. I truly, really never believed this would happen in my entire career. I'm just not the best seller type. I didn't think  princess academy would get Newbery recognition either, but I knew I had maybe a 1000:1 chance--not much, but still possible. But NYTBS? Never. And the amazing thing is, even if the book stays on the list for one week and no book of mine ever makes it there again, I'll always be, for the rest of my life, "New York Times Best Selling Author Shannon Hale." Holy freak!

And what do I think about all this, you ask? I'm not. How could I possibly think about it? How is the human brain capable of comprehending things like an endless, expanding universe or getting a Newbery Honor and NYTBS in the same month? It's completely ridiculous. It will never happen to  me. I can't possibly believe you. I'm going to go eat waffles now.

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