Yeah, this gets your heartrate up, doesn’t it?
K.B. Owen, Wana Commons.
If you don’t know where the title comes from, Aledans, you are truly missing out on a hilarious movie experience. This week’s been crazy. Crazier than last week. Crazier than any week I’ve had for a looooong time.
Last week I was getting ready to join the #GUTGAA Pitch Contest, and I knew there was a small window in which to enter. I had no idea it would fill up within seconds. My heart was pounding (ha! I didn’t know what pounding was, as I’ll explain below) as I waited for that precious email that said “you’re in!”. When Deana announced that all winners had been notified my heart sank – I didn’t make it. Two hours later I received the “you’re in!” email and almost tipped over the lunch table in my excitement. The pure luck part of the contest was over and I was one of the lucky ones.
I spent the weekend forgetting about #GUTGAA with all the #PonyFest12 awesomeness (there’s an announcement at the bottom of the post – don’t miss it!).
On Monday morning I found my lovely pitch and waited impatiently for the votes to come in. They didn’t. On Tuesday morning I woke up to a vote (yay!), but heard the only judge with votes left was the one who I never expected to get a vote from, based on her other votes so far. So Tuesday night I went to bed a little disappointed, but mostly relieved that the crazy emotional roller coaster was over for me. No more stressing out about the contest, just plenty of stress-free time to type up edits.
I woke up on Weds morning to a vote from the one judge I didn’t think I’d get a vote from! Cue emotional roller coaster! Now there was a tie, and they had to bring in another judge to break it. My heart was pounding (ha! again) as I waited for the tie-breaker vote. And guess what?
I’m going to the finals! I got one of the tie-breaker votes!
Just typing this out has my heart pounding again (ha!).
So what’s with all the “ha!”s? I went to bed Weds night as happy as can be and also anxious as hell. And at 11:30pm I turned onto my side, and noticed that my heart was racing. And I mean racing. Nearly 200 beats per minute (normal is 60-80 beats per minute). Now that’s a pounding heart! No problem, I’d do some breathing exercises, wait it out, and it would slow down. Two hours later I finally got out of bed because it hadn’t slowed. I watched some TV. Ate something in case it was due to low blood sugar. An hour later I emailed my boss to tell him I wouldn’t be in on Thursday because I hadn’t slept all night. By four am I thought I was having a heart attack, except I wasn’t having any chest pains, difficulty breathing, or numbness. Just a heart that wouldn’t stop beating like I’d just swam away from sharks (which I’ve done before on Sullivan’s Island after one bumped my leg).
It was terrifying. Hubs was gone on a business trip, and I was home alone. I finally put my legs up for ten minutes and it slowed my heart down enough that I could sleep.
When I woke up I was having problems breathing. It felt like there was a rubber band around my chest, squeezing all the air out. My heartbeat was still elevated. I was shaking. I really thought I was having a heart attack. So I went to the doctor. My blood pressure was fine, but my heart was still beating around 100 times a minute. The good news is: no heart attack. The bad news is: they had to take blood (I’m really bad with needles!) and I won’t have any results until tomorrow or Monday (when I’ll be freaking out over agents reading my pitch!). The most likely culprits are Hyperthyroid (which I was tested for several years ago and didn’t have), Anemia (which I shouldn’t have based on my diet), or SVT brought on by stress (I’m guessing this one, since I’ve always had heart palpitations).
So the name of the game this weekend is NO STRESS. I’ll be finishing up my final edits (yeah, no stress…) and maybe taking a beach day to relax. You know what would really help? If you go play #PonyFest12 and delight me with your designs!
And speaking of #PonyFest12, we have a new prize to add to the pack! Beth Revis has donated a signed copy of her book A Million Suns! So you definitely want to get those pony designs entered in for this one 
I hope you all have an excellent weekend, Aledans. Don’t stress out, and come play ponies with me!
September 21, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Hope you get some honest-to-God relaxation in this weekend!
September 21, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Now that Hubs is home I’m much calmer – heart rate and breathing back to normal! But man was that scary!
September 21, 2012 at 5:56 pm
Oh my gosh!! I hope you get those results back soon!
September 21, 2012 at 6:09 pm
At least if I have to wear the heart monitor next week they’ll catch the craziness of my heart
September 21, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Sounds really scary. Glad you’re doing better and hope it stays that way. Congrats on making it to the next round of GUTGAA, and crossing my fingers it will come with no stress for you.
September 21, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Thank you Janeal! I’ve normalized for now, and just have to remind myself next week to chill out
September 21, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Stress is hazardous. Take care of yourself. I think artists are particularly hard on ourselves in this regard and the writing life certainly doesn’t make it easy.
September 21, 2012 at 6:12 pm
It certainly doesn’t. I think this will be the last contest I join. Querying has to be less stressful than this!
September 21, 2012 at 7:54 pm
1) Yayomgcongratulations!!!!!!!
2) When alone and in need of help, think “Asiagoans.” We will come running! Love to you, dear.
September 21, 2012 at 8:56 pm
It was FOUR AM – I couldn’t think at all!
But yes, next time, I’m totally calling you guys. “Bring a shovel and a tarp, I think I’m dying”
September 22, 2012 at 4:21 am
Squee! I barely got any notice from the judges, sort of expected it. But I’m so super happy for you right now! ^_^
But that spider … *shudder*
September 22, 2012 at 7:01 am
Aldrea – I’ll say it over here – your first 150 blew me away and made me want to read the book. I was surprised there were actually 3 adult dragon books out of the 44 – which may have had something to do with it. But I can tell you are a gorgeous writer.
September 23, 2012 at 4:47 am
Thank you. ^_^
I noticed the other two dragon stories too, both Urban, I believe.
I’ve been query it off and on for a little while now and, from what I’m hearing, dragons are apparently the new werewolves/vampires. Go figure. I always hit a trend at the wrong end, probably because I never notice trends until they’re pointed out to me. ^_^
September 22, 2012 at 3:32 pm
lol, sorry about the spider, it was the only “glass case of emotion” type photo I could find
September 23, 2012 at 4:54 am
Nup, still can’t look at it without shuddering.
I’ll have to go look through the custom ponies.
September 23, 2012 at 9:33 am
Yay! Go make a pony for the contest! I need ponies today ^_^
September 22, 2012 at 6:59 am
Dear lord, woman! But I understand, it was an action packed week.
September 22, 2012 at 3:32 pm
It really was! And Hubs was gone all week, so I was already stressed
September 22, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Congratulations! That’s so exciting! Sorry to hear about the heart problems though…any chance that it could be a panic attack? Panic attacks have real physical symptoms that include heart racing, shaking, sweating, and dizziness – and they’re triggered by stress.
Hope you have a no-stress week!
September 22, 2012 at 5:19 pm
I thought it might be a panic attack, but it lasted for so long, even after all my normal meditation that calms things like that (and well into the next day). I think it’s probably SVT, because I’ve always had heart issues, and this particular event was caused by a bit of anxiety. If nothing comes from the tests though, I’ll definitely ask about panic attacks – I’ve never had one, so I don’t know what it feels like.
Thank you! So far the weekend has been stress-free
September 23, 2012 at 11:59 am
Please keep us posted and take care of yourself. Oh, the spiders don’t phase me until they drop out of the ceiling and land on me without warning. I had that happen at the office three years ago. I came out of that shirt so fast I probably set some sort of record. Lol
September 23, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Oh gross! I would have been out of the shirt too! (working at a lab, I HAVE had to rip off my pants before
I spill some dangerous stuff on them).
I got the results back today, but I need to go back in tomorrow after fasting for another blood draw. Not hyperthyroid or anemia though
September 23, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Sorry about the heart scare. They are definitely no fun. I’ve had palpitations myself for many years, and the last couple of years I’ve had these sudden attacks where my heart rate climbs to around 200 also. Definitely no fun, but at least my episodes only last for about 10-20 minutes. I would definitely have been headed to the emergency room if mine had lasted longer than an hour. Did you have any palpitations during your episodes? Keep us posted.
September 24, 2012 at 9:46 am
I couldn’t tell if I was having any palpitations because it was beating so fast
But I went in for more blood work today, since I wasn’t fasting before the last blood draw. Hopefully I’ll have some answers soon.
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