I've been able to experience my own version of this.
I learned on March 3 of this year that a story I'd written called "Death and Taxes" had been bought by True Confessions magazine. I got to yell and scream when the letter came in the mail (okay, so it wasn't really a call, but a postal notification), email my husband, family and friends, read the fine print on the contract, make a copy for my files, yell and scream some more and mail back the signed contract to my editor.
Does't that sound sweet? My editor.
Then I got to wait.
Even though the story was tentatively scheduled for the May issue, it's a loooooooooooong time from March 3rd to whenever the May issue is released.
Cue the drumroll cause the wait is over.
"But I don't see "Death and Taxes" anywhere," you say. That's because they gave it a new name. Look up there in the upper right corner just under the title. Yep, "My Personal Horror" is my first paid publishing gig for a major market.
Here's the inside copy. And no... the fellow in the bed isn't the tax man. ;-) My husband wanted to know if he was.
It feels good to finally see it on a store shelf and hold a copy in my hands. Actually, I bought three copies though I'm not sure why. That's two less on the shelf for a reader to buy.
My husband sat on the sofa last night and read every word. He told me if my name was on the story (TC doesn't give you a by-line on fiction) I'd probably get sympathy cards from readers (unlike romance, this story doesn't have a happy ending). I took that as a compliment.
My mom told me she read TC when she was younger and was going to search for a copy to show her friends. "My daughter, the published author," she wrote. And a published friend in California added it to her grocery list so she would remember to look for a copy. I'm truly touched.
In the meantime, I keep writing and submitting. The process gets a little easier and the words flow better but the waiting is still there. As long as they don't send it back in that SASE, it's still in the running. Right?
This definitely qualifies as my most exciting moment of 2006 (just nudging out turning 55 years old by a nose *g*).
What's YOUR most exciting moment for this year?