Kind of a neat moment & A chance to win swag

Okay-- so RITA nomination, right?

Big deal-- at least to me.

Anyway-- I want to thank a couple of people from my past, so I e-mail the head of the English department at my alma mater and introduce myself, then ask him if he's got a line on two of my old professors.

He got back to me this week.

A. He had an e-mail address, and even if that professor doesn't get back to me, I feel pretty good about telling him thank you.

B. The department head's partner had read one of my books.

I almost had a squee meltdown right then and there.

Seriously-- I assume that very few people in my hometown have heard of me.  Remember my rather silly wish that I'd get recognized in public one day?  (Apparently this post is going to reveal a lot of vanity on my part.  Forgive me.)

But these people had.

I wanted to cry.  It was pretty fucking awesome.

And thought I'd share.

***

And folks, the LGBTQ pushback needs your help!  Go to that post if you can and donate to one of the charities linked there-- lots of authors are donating books for the effort, and if you like, I'll sweeten the pot!  I have lots of… well, stuff lying around the house.  Copies of Wounded and Bound from their original, iUniverse printing, lots of copies of Green's Hill Werewolves Book II, a FUCKTON of keychains, and even some left over yarn bags from a couple of GRLs ago.  Don't even get me STARTED on bookmarks.  Hell, if you throw in a special note, I will even raid my yarn stash.  Don't even get me started on bookmarks. (Oh, holy jebus, the BOOKMARKS!) If you donate to one of those charities and report back to A.J. Rose or Kate Aaron on their blog, come over here to this post and tell me about it.  If you leave your e-mail, I won't even have a drawing, I'll just send you random Amy crap (okay, not appealing, but you get the idea) on a first come/first serve basis. If you have a preference, state it, but NO PROMISES.  And all yarn stash is random whatever the hell I wanna send you stuff. (That being said, I have BEAUTIFUL sock yarn just languishing in the bug-resistant boxes.) But seriously-- I will de-stash myself for this cause, so go donate, tell Kate and AJ about it, and then come brag to me. Leave your e-mail, and on May 3rd (their pushback only lasts until May 1st, so that's two extra days) I will start e-mailing people for their addresses and sending shit out.  So, really, think of it not so much as a chance to give to some really good causes, but as chances to help Amy clean out her drawers. Seriously. I need help. HELP MEEEEEEEEE…..

 Okay, so some awesome folks read some advanced copies of Immortal and loved it. They reviewed it for me on GoodReads, and their reviews made me tear up, and I'm so excited. I mean, I'm at the end of Quickening right now, and  nervous and excited about whether or not I can still write fantasy, and the reaction to Immortal gives me hope! I love writing things like Food for Thought (and the Tales of the Curious Cookbook antho got reviewed in RT for 4*, so that was exciting!) and shorter, lighter novellas. I love writing contemporary too-- all of it makes me happy.  But there are some pieces where you look back and think, "I brought it… I just fucking brought it. I left all my blood on that stage and didn't save a drop for myself."  That was Truth in the Dark. That was The Bells of Times Square and Beneath the Stain. That's this book. All my blood is on the stage here. I hope you find it good ;-)