Lucy Roberts on Receiving the Winner Call
7 Comments November 7th, 2008 in Modern Heat, reader, writing contest Posted by Amyby Lucy Roberts, Feel the Heat contest winner
I live in Jerez de la Frontera, a city in southern Spain and the home of sherry and flamenco. It has 270 days of sunshine a year and glorious Atlantic beaches less than 20 miles away. It’s also one hour ahead of Britain.
So by 8pm on 30th September I’d given up constantly checking my mobile for missed calls and refreshing my inbox/the iheartspresents site just in case. Surely the editorial team would have already contacted the lucky contestants and gone home long ago. And realistically, what were the odds of winning or being a runner-up anyway? Pretty slim. So that was it. Heyho…
But then the phone rang and some sort of weird sixth sense kicked in. My heart started thundering and a ‘what if’ flashed into my head. By the time I’d found the phone under a pile of papers on my desk, I’d told myself to calm down and not to be so silly. Whenever the landline rings (practically never) it’s usually someone trying to get me to switch broadband providers.
I was mentally rehearsing how to say “please take me off your database” in Spanish, when I realised that the caller was speaking in English. I only really remember the “This is Joanne Carr from Harlequin Mills & Boon” part. From the moment she said that my entry had won, the conversation melted into a blur of congratulations on her side and gibberish on mine. Thank goodness for email!
I can’t really describe the feeling of hearing that I’d won — a combination of disbelief, shock and euphoria. My husband said it was a bit like the bottle of champagne he subsequently opened. One minute everything was quiet and calm, the next I was leaping around our flat, bubbling and fizzing all over the place.
Since then I’ve (almost) floated back to earth, started a blog and can’t wait to start working with Kimberly.
Tagged with: Feel the Heat Writing Competition
Lucy!
Your story brought tears to my eyes!!! Even though I was like you–hoping and hoping to get a call–reading YOUR story made me very happy YOU won! Congratulations and enjoy this wonderful journey! Keep us posted on the ride!
Hugs,
MARIAN Pearson Stevens
Oh Lucy congratulations, and may it be the first of many happy calls! Well done on winning and best of luck with everything…
x Abby Green
Lucy,
Great story! What a wonderful surprise for you — especially since you thought it was way past the time for the winner to be notified.
Good luck with your writing!
Lucy, I felt it along with you as I read! I remember my own call (calls) and how thrilling it was! For Instant Seduction, we didn’t have a specific date to expect anything. There was a post on a Tuesday (I think) saying they’d made a decision, and since I didn’t get a call, I assumed I hadn’t won. Then there was the realization on Wednesday that
I’d missed a call on my mobile — and the number was Harlequin’s! I did NOT sleep until Sally finally called.
Yep, bubbling all over the place. Congratulations, and I hope to hear you’ve gotten the next big Call in the next few months! (And may I just say how I envy you living in Spain!? I only spent a few days in Madrid, but I loved it.)
Fabulous, Lucy!
Love the champagne analogy
Living in Spain sounds very exotic. A great place to set a sizzling Mod Heat perhaps?
Congrats!
Wonderful story, Lucy! Congrats again.
Jackie
Thanks, everyone.
Funny you should mention setting a story in Spain, Nicola… I was just thinking about sending my H & H in my Nano novel off to Seville, where they’ll obviously become undone by the heady orange blossom, steamy heat and sultry flamenco-ing. Do you think I should include a nightmare one-way system, horrific traffic and the fact that all the shops seem to be shut just when you want to buy something????