The Secret Life of Golden Heart Winners

So what is it like to be a Golden Heart winner? Uh... in a word, scary!

Here's one of the screens where the names of the finalist are ginormously projected. You clutch your critique partner's hand while she repeatedly tells you to chill. You try to chat up NYT best-selling authors seated around you. Okay, the editors sitting next to them, actually.




And here's the same screen where YOU are ginormously projected if you win. Of course you try to make it up to the podium gracefully in your new heels. You try to remember all the names of the people who've helped you. You work in the name of your great agent. You smile...? Okay, so you might forget to smile. You're just a tad bit shocked.

You spend nearly the rest of the ceremony snapping open and closed the case the Golden Heart comes in. Yes, it's real. You keep mouthing OMG at your lovely critique partner Dona. She keeps mouthing it at you. Afterward, you put that golden pendant around your neck, so now you're forced to stare into your own cleavage to admire it. Creepy, I know.

It's a lovely night involving chocolate fountains and drinks and calling your family to share the good news. It's almost as good as meeting MEG CABOT!