Dancing with the Cabana Boys!

Wow, it's late. Or early, if you're in the UK somewhere. But for me, this is very, very late.

And I'm wiped out! All for good reasons, though. An evening session with a bookstore owner talking about the ins and outs of book purchasing and distribution, which was fascinating.

Or I'm really, really boring and don't get out much...which is probably true anyway.

But I have BIG NEWS!

In the past six months, I've entered a couple contests. In both cases, actually for the feedback. I know, I know, that's what you're supposed to say, but it's true. October 31, I found out the intro to my manuscript, Suspicious Circumstances, had made the first cut in an open-genre competition. Which turned out, in the end, to mean nothing more than that, because the people who put the contest on didn't come through with the prize long-listed authors were supposed to get.

Though I think the short-listed people got zinged far more than I did, but that's another story and I'm not going there. The reality is, I entered the contest, I placed in it somewhere, and I felt pretty good for a bit. It was enough to get other publishers interested in my manuscript. So in the end, it worked out for me.

This time, I entered for peanuts for a pricetag ($5 US and they give feedback on the whole manuscript, not just the first 3000 words) and guess what?

I won Best Fiction.

The editorial feedback from this publisher has been very helpful. Considering what it would have cost me to print off my manuscript and pay for postage to mail it, the $5 US entry fee was a steal.

And now I'm a winner! Which is always better than being a loser.

In this era where it is so hard for new writers to get published, where it's so hard for new writers to even get their material looked at, feedback and a prize to boot from a publisher is huge. Staggering. I'm in complete shock, swaying from tears to shrieks to excessive drinking and...well, actually, I'm too tired for any of it. My mind is mush, my brain numb, and I know tomorrow morning I'm going to get up and come check my email to see if this really did happen.

But despite the mental melt-down, I feel pretty damn good.

And I'll stop boring you and bring on the jokes and general entertainment!

Does this ever ring true!

An older married couple noticed that they were both having a
problem remembering things so they agreed to start writing
everything down. The lady then asked her husband if he would go
to the kitchen and get her some ice cream. He started out the
door and she said, Aren't you going to write it down?"

He said "No, I think I can remember a simple bowl of ice cream."

She said, "Yes, dear, but I want some chocolate syrup on it too."

"I still think I can remember a bowl of ice cream with chocolate
syrup on it," he replied, starting out the door.

"Yes, dear," she said, "but I want you to put some peanuts on it,
too. Do you think you can remember all that?"

"No problem, honey," he said and was gone.

When he finally got back to the room he was carrying a plate of
bacon and eggs. The old woman shook her head and began
scolding her husband. "Well, I told you to write it all down," she
said. "Look, you've forgotten my toast!"


Pinched from James. Who clearly doesn't talk about ME enough on his blog. Hmmph. And he's so big here.