I feel like I can never finish this with a "Hoo!"

I just got an email today from the editor that my adoption story has made it into the final selection for the anthology. BUT ... if the galley pages come back and the book is too long, one or two stories might have to get cut. Of course, this rarely happens, and blah-di-blah-blah, but now I feel like I have to wait until next May or June to find out if my story really made it in or not. The book is scheduled to be published in June 2009. I should get my check and contributor's copy a few weeks before the book publishes.

So now I get to hold my breath for another ::counts on fingers:: nine months. lol It'll be like having a baby -- except my baby will be a check and a free copy of a book. And the bragging rights to finally say I've had a story published -- and gotten paid for it!