Ah, the waiting game. Trying not to watch the clock, because a watched pot of contest entries never boils. Or something like that.
But enough with the mixing of metaphors. I have good news and mediocre news. I’ll give you the mediocre news first. I haven’t won the Winter Rose contest, but I haven’t come in second or third, either. There’s a problem with one of the judges, which I found surprising because they’ve had six weeks to read the three entries they had to judge. But then I thought, maybe the judge is like me, a procrastinator, and waited until the last minute, then came down with the flu or her dog ate her email account or the like. Bottom line, the contest poobahs have pushed back the announcement of the winners for one week to give the new judge a chance to evaluate the entries. So you see, it’s not exactly bad news, not exactly good news, it’s mediocre.
As for the Cleveland Rocks contest, they apparently have managed to keep all their judges on schedule, and they will announce the winners soon. They don’t say exactly when, but it could be as early as today, or over the next few days. They announced the winners yesterday at their writers’ conference, and had I been more on my game, I would have had one of my friends in Ohio sneak in and spy for me.
That’s the contest wrap-up. In case you’re keeping score at home, I have since entered two more contests: The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Contest for unpublished authors, and the Alaska Romance Writers’ Break-Up Contest. I may enter one of the Denver-area’s romance writers chapters’ contest, but I’m not sure. Part of me wants to support them, but part of me wants to concentrate solely on revising THROWN.
Which brings me to my good news. I had lunch with the lovely RITA-nominee/brilliant author Joanne Kennedy last Sunday to discuss her suggestions for making THROWN the Best Romance Novel EVER. She handed over six pages of notes and we spent almost the whole entire time talking about my novel. Imagine how distraught I must have been, having to spend hours talking about ME and MY story. As I expected, her comments were dead on, and I’ve been revising ever since, in drips and drabs. This is another one of those times when I wish I was independently wealthy and could spend all my waking hours writing. But I’ll get it done before the Romance Writers of America conference in late June, so that’s the important thing.
And there you have it. The update. When I hear about the contests, I’ll be sure to let you know. As always, thank you for your support!
When your book wins and you become famous and wealthy, I hope you will help to cover the expenses related to my finger- and toe-crossing arthritis. Can’t wait to hear the results!
Yay, Colette, on entering more contests! And I’m keeping all appendages–and my eyes–crossed for you when you hear back from the ones you’ve already entered.
6 pages of notes? Whew! I am impressed with both of you. =) Can’t wait until THROWN is published so I can read it!