The Day My Favourite Author Congratulated Me On My Book Deal

Yesterday I was given the go-ahead to announce my book deal (if you missed it, you can see the announcement here and here and here) and it was the most humbling and amazing day ever! I was bowled over with love and support and congratulations I received from the YA community, and I feel so lucky and proud to be a part of it. Thank you all, so much!

This morning, I woke up and I had an email notification from Facebook.

"Juliet Marillier mentioned you on Facebook"

My brain frizzled a little, tiny sparks jumped out of my ears, my breath hitched and, slowly, it penetrated. Juliet Marillier? Mentioned me? On Facebook? 

Let me give you a little backstory. When I was 14 or so, my mother and I moved into a house where a lady had sadly passed away. She had no family, and everything she left behind was abandoned in the house. Her stores of food, her clothes, her music, VHS tapes, and her books. From her, I inherited a pair of boots that looked very tribal, a suede jacket, and a host of old books (Mary, Queen of Scots, King Solomon's Ring, Under Milk Wood, etc). One of the books, which looked very well-read and well-loved, was a copy of Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest. It had what I believe is the Australian cover.

I didn't read it for a year, but I kept glancing at it and it kept calling to me. But one day, when I was fifteen, I picked up this book and I began. I tore through it. I was so sad to see the pages passing. I cried and I laughed, and I fell so deeply and madly in love that it became my favourite book of all time. It still is, to this day, and I read it every single year (sometimes more than once), loving it every time. I buy this book more than any other book (I own two copies and many of my friends have received copies from me too—including my literary agent!).  I fell in love with the next book in the series too, Son of the Shadows, and the next, Child of the Prophecy, and my love for Juliet's words has simply grown and grown and grown. I grew up with her words, and they shaped and changed me. I even drew some fan art years ago, which she put up onto her website (biggest moment of my life up until that point). I wrote fan fiction. 

So this morning, when I logged into Facebook, and saw these words:

"Congratulations, Dawn, what fantastic news!"

And when I saw that they were written by Juliet herself, the woman who was fundamentally key in driving my passion for writing, whose work holds me to a high standard every time I sit down at the keyboard, and whose words and characters are as dear to me as my own family, I feel like my whole life just happened. Right now.

Thank you to everyone who has shared my news and passed it on! Thank you Juliet for making my whole day, week and year, and I simply can't wait for you all to read The Dead House (which I found out is up on Goodreads!). I really hope it scares you :D