Thank you Anne of Green Gables for the perfect adjective

A quote from Anne of Green Gables has been running through my head repeatedly lately.  Anne is walking home with Diana after a failed attempt to walk the ridgepole of the Barry's house (on a dare of course). Anne sprained her ankle and Diana is helping to support her as she attempts to walk.  Of course in Anne fashion, she refuses to walk the regular way home so that she can make a point to Gilbert and Josie.  This results in taking a much longer way.  Due to the injury of Anne's ankle she decides that they should take a shortcut though the woods which are rumored to be haunted.  As they are walking through the dark, mist filled trees, with bare branches grabbing at their clothes and owls hooting in the background Diana tells Anne that she is scared.  Anne replies " So am I.  Deliciously scared."  

I am heading to the Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators big summer conference in LA tomorrow.  This will be my first big writing conference and I am going by myself, while knowing not a single person.  While I am not scared, I do feel nervous. Deliciously nervous.  I am so excited to listen and learn and soak in all that I can from esteemed authors, agents, editors, and other industry professionals.  I am having a professional critique done of my favorite piece, so far, called Under My Bed.  I am excited to see what is said about it and to figure out what my next step should be.  I have been researching the great agents who will be at the conference to see what they are like and what kind of work they represent.  I am thrilled by the prospect of meeting them personally so I can get a better sense of who I want to query for representation.  I feel like there is so much possibility and talent and inspiration to be had there that I have butterflies in my stomach in anticipation.  All this has been circling my brain over the last couple of weeks and as it has gotten closer and closer my mind keeps taking me back to that line; "Deliciously scared", I absolutely adore the use of the word as an adjective.  It describes my nervousness perfectly.  

Confession: Do I dare admit that as a writer and avid reader, I have never actually read the Anne of Green Gables series? Well, I confess, it's true.  I have only seen the movies.  I have a really hard time reading a book after I've seen the movie.  I'm not sure why this is, because I will read a good book many times, so it can't be that I know what will happen. Perhaps it is that I am no longer the creator of these characters in my mind.  Part of the greatness of reading is that you get to interpret the nuances of these written characters. The characters have already been cast in a movie.  I have no choice but to see them as the movie character. Which can make for all sorts of disappointment (in a reverse sense since it is usually the other way around) when the book character is so much more rich and fulfilling then the person in the movie.  

I do feel it is important to note that the line "Deliciously scared" was in fact a brilliant line only found on film. It was not in the book.