Just when I think this week can't get any cooler...

I keep waiting for all of this to feel less surreal (and to stop talking about it CONSTANTLY and probably driving you all crazy!) but... stuff keeps happening that is just so overwhelming it's like... THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER HOW CAN I NOT GUSH ENDLESSLY ABOUT IT???????

So... sorry guys, you're welcome to ignore me if you've had enough. But I just. can't. help myself!

I mean, how can I not get all choked up/insanely excited when a PM announcement pops up in my inbox with MY BOOK DEAL IN THERE???????

From Publisher's Marketplace:

Children's: Fantasy
Shannon Messenger's debut middle-grade series KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, about a girl who discovers there are secrets buried in her memory that others would kill for, and has to figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first, to Liesa Abrams at Aladdin, in a six-figure deal, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication starting in Fall 2012, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (North America).
ljrennert@mac.com 

Obviously I knew it was coming. But still--when it finally did, yesterday? It was ... a "moment." And there was a lot of staring at the email and thinking.... OMG THAT'S ME!!!!!!!!

Also surreal? More than 100 people have already added my book on Goodreads in the last 4 days.  

O.O

I... I don't even know what to say about that. Or about Goodreads giving me a real "author page" of my own. Or about the discussion someone started, where they suggested my book--MY book--was going to be a top book--and so far no one has argued with them! (no agreement, either. But hey--I'm GOOD with no arguing!!!) (And btw, there are whole new realms of panic and pressure that come with that suggestion. Holy High Expectations, Batman! *bites nails*)

And then there are the hundreds and hundreds of comments, tweets, emails, FB posts, text messages, and phone calls I've gotten from all of you, filled with so much love and support I really don't know how to process it all. I'm doing my best to reply to them, because seriously they mean SO much to me. And I'm back from LA now--after spending a crazy few days researching a scene and connecting with some amazingly awesome people--so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on the rest. But if I miss yours accidentally--I'm so sorry. Please know that I read it, loved it, and so so SO can't thank you enough for it. 

I also know I keep promising you a contest--and I PROMISE I have one coming for you. But I'm saving it for Monday because my brain is totally floopy right now and I don't trust myself to organize the last final things.

Plus, a few of you are calling for something... else... to happen first. 

Not sure how many of you have really been following my blog long enough to know this but... a LONG time ago I made a certain deal with my followers that when I sold my book I would post a clip from the humiliating performance I gave a long time ago on a low budget game show (the story behind that can be found HERE.)

Well... the time has finally come. I scored five extra months with the whole not-being-able-to-announce thing (there were SOME advantages to that.) But alas, I can stall no longer. 

SO TOMORROW IS THE DAY.

There will be bangs of doom. There will be humiliating YouTube Clips. There will be SHANNON SHAME GALORE!!!!! 

And then... I will probably flee to Mexico to start a new life as a maraca player. Ole!