Anticipation

Those of you who grew up in the '70s, as I did, probably remember the Carly Simon song and the Heinz Ketchup commercial that used the excerpt: Anticipation. Anticipa-ay-tion is making me wait, Is keeping me wa-a-a-a-a-ai-ting..

(And now that song will be circling your brain all day. You're welcome.)

I have always loved anticipation, and I have something really fun to look forward to that will happen in July. I have a significant birthday in August as my odometer turns to a new decade, and my man surprised me last week by telling me he's sending me on a fun trip. Well, fun to this book lover!

The annual International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) will be held in Atlanta in July. This is a big trade show where publishers promote the latest Christian fiction, non-fiction, music and video. Many authors will be there for book signings and interviews. Some of you may remember the Christian Book Expo I attended in the Spring of 2009, a one-time show geared for consumers. This is similar to that but targeted for retailers and media.

I received an email inviting book review bloggers to attend as media. The email came toward the end of May, when we were dealing with finals and graduation and all the stress that May had brought to our family. I didn't delete the email, but I pretty much dismissed it since Atlanta is not exactly in the vicinity, and airfare and hotel would be "just a few" dollars!

Shortly after that, I received another email from a blogger who has become a dear friend begging me to come and be her roommate. I didn't even have time to respond until early last week but finally told her that I would love to but just didn't see it happening.

But.

Sometimes God just showers us with a blessing when we absolutely have no clue it's coming!

My man occasionally uses my email address for non-work stuff, and he happened to notice the all-caps, many exclamation points subject line of the email from my blogger friend. Out of the blue last Tuesday night he said, "I want you to go. And I want you to stay a few extra days and see if your friend can stay and just do some fun things while you're there."

So, in a little less than a month I will be in Atlanta. I already have interviews set up with a number of authors. I'm going to see some who I met in Dallas. I'm finally getting to meet some I have only talked through via blogging and emailing. I'm going to meet some who are relatively new authors. I'm going to meet and interview a musician who has a beautiful voice and a wonderful CD recently released. And I already have books and CDs being sent to me for giveaways for YOU!

And the icing on the cake? The "never in my wildest dreams" thing? My friend and I will also be attending The Christy Awards and will personally see the announcement of the winners in each category. (I listed all the nominees yesterday; just scroll down to the post before this one.)

It will be a week to remember. I just hope I can sleep between now and then!