So remember when I wrote a bunch of word vomit a while ago, about an author that I loved and how she was having a book giveaway and you had to write a thing so I wrote a thing and just sort of flailed everywhere?

I won.

I KNOW. I’M AS SHOCKED AS YOU ARE. I don’t win things. Like ever. Not lotteries, nor spelling bees, nor competitions. I am not a winner.

BUT I WON ANYWAY.

I got a message via the contest site from the author that I won! And she even told me she was glad I won, because she thought my entry was awesome!

I was speechless for the next hour. And then reread my blog entry only to find comma splices and incorrect prepositions, so I had to go hide in shame for a while.

Well, in any case, last night while I was at work, I got an ecstatic text message from my husband saying “YOUR BOOKS ARE HERE,” which made rebeading the hem of a wedding dress a lot more bearable. And I got home to discover two GIANT boxes, one of which was cleverly labeled.

(Hiccup was not pleased at the prospect of adding a puppy to the family.)

P helped me rip the boxes open and I pulled each of them out one by one, oohing and aahing over titles and authors and glossy covers and shoving them in P’s face as I exclaimed “LOOK THIS IS AN ADVANCED READER’S COPY ISN’T THIS AWESOME?!”

And then we stacked them up, just to see how tall they’d be. Then again, I haven’t grown since the sixth grade, so I don’t know if this is a testament to my shortness or the sheer amount of books now in my possession.

All right, even if I’m only a hair under five feet tall, that is still a lot of books! I think my reading for the next year is well scheduled.

So thank you, Maggie Stiefvater, for randomly selecting me to win, saying a nice thing to a very discouraged girl, and sending me a glorious collection of books. They will be very much loved.

And also my cat thanks you for his new fort.