Whaaaat-uuuuup?

As you all know, Syl and I are great pals. I’ve been blogging here on the 1st and 15th (or close to) since April–and love it. Thank you for the opportunity Syl. What you may not know about the two of us is how we met and became friends. We’re in the same state, but a few hundred miles apart. We don’t belong to the same chapter. How did we meet? :think: What prompted our friendship affair? :love:

Um…I did

Here’s how it went down. I got the offer on Chocolate Kisses in August 2004, but after accepting I heard very little for the next couple of months and felt very lost and alone in the big-bad world of being published. Still on the PRO loop, I saw Sylvia’s first sale announcement go out over the loop. And, I decided she was just about the same spot on this road as I was. Maybe we could share our joy :cheer: and worry and bad-tummy anxiety :puke: as we waited for our first contracts to arrive. Mostly, I wanted–desperately–for a friend :hug:who’d hold my hand with and would never get too tired of my excitement! :yay:

So, I emailed her. Out of the blue. I didn’t post often on PRO, so I wasn’t sure she’d even know my name when I contacted her, but I took the chance. Here’s my first email to her:

From: RENEE LUKE [mailto:renee_luke@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 11:44 PM
To: sylvia@sylviaday.com
Subject: Congrats on your sale (Can you believe we’re not far off a year already?)

Hiya Sylvia,

I wanted to give you a personal congrats on your win and now sale. How very exciting. I’m on PRO but rarely post there; waiting for my PAN to be approved. I also sold recently, to NAL. It’s also erotica, though I like to call it romantica, as there are always happy endings.

While Chocolate Kisses is a contemp, I love historicals and started writing there. NAL is considering a couple of them now.

I live in Northern CA, just outside of Sacramento and am a mom of four ranging in ages from just about 13–awk, a teen–to 4. I’m in edits, cuts, rewrites, and deadlines, too and so thought it may be fun and enlightening to chat with you a bit. Share battle scars.

I have my CP who is awesome and I love her, but I thought it’d be cool to meet you since we’re just about the same stage and doing this whole ‘published’ thing for the first time.

LOL! I’m not a crazy stalker lady if that’s what you’re thinking. I understand everyone is pressed for time. Good luck to you in your future ventures.

Renee Luke
(It’s a little corny. Reading it now I’m surprised she responded to me. I sound a bit wallflowerish begging for a friend. I’m not. I’m fun :scratch: I think. Someone hand me a :beer: I’ve got to think about this.)

Below you’ll find Sylvia’s response to me. Yes, she responded to my silly email. She really is a sweetheart!

From: “Sylvia Day”
To: “‘RENEE LUKE’”
Subject: RE: Congrats on your sale
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 00:04:21 -0800 (it didn’t even take her a full 24 hours. I betcha she was getting a shitload of emails, too. Yes, she really is amazing)

Hi Renee!!
Congratulations to you too! A sale to NAL, that’s wonderful! I admire your ability to write contemps. I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to pull it off. I wrote one, a short story. It just sold to Black Lace and will be published in their Wicked Words series in May. But it’s only 5000 words. I don’t know that I could write a longer one. I do write futuristics and paranormals though.

I’m glad you wrote me. It’s kind of a tough stage to be in, this whole in-between published and not. LOL My published friends are like, “Yeah, it’s fun.” but they’re over it. And my non-published friends try to be happy for me, but it’s hard when they’re trying so hard to “get there”. So it will be nice to talk with you.

I don’t know if you went to my site and saw my bio, but I’m in California, by San Diego. I have a hubby and two kids–one is 5 and the other is 3.

I’d love to chat with you about any and everything.

I look forward to talking with you! Especially going through the whole “get your name out there stage”. LOL

Take care of you.
Sylvia

Do we both sound a little stunned and confused? Blissfully happy, but not sure what happens next? Wanna read more about the start of our friendship? Check it out here, on my blog.