Me! It's me! My manuscript, Island Runaway, was the winner in the Single Title Contemporary category for the Chicago-North RWA Fire & Ice contest! If you thought being a finalist boosted my confidence, this recent news has made me feel like a rockstar! I received the news almost a week ago, but I've been in overdrive tweaking the entire work to make it that much better and starting on a short story to enter in another contest while I'm still feeling unstoppable and am just now posting the news on twitter and here. So now the plan is to self-publish sometime in October if I don't land any deals before then. I don't honestly expect to, but then I also didn't expect to win the Fire & Ice contest so you never know. Either way, I really need to start working on marketing myself including my web presence including here and spending more time on twitter. You wouldn't really think it would be that hard, would you. In other news, last month I ran m
That's what some of my friends have been telling me to do. When telling people what I do, tell them that I am a writer. Own it! Well now that I'm a finalist in a contest (finally!), I'm finding it that much easier to do so. On Thursday I chaperoned for my son's field trip and at lunch found myself sitting next to his teacher who I really like. At one point she asked if I worked and I explained that I'm at home, but I'm a writer. Just like that I said, " I'm a writer. " I told her that I'm still trying to get published, but I did recently final in a contest. I feel like that gives me more credential, as in "no, I'm not published yet, but it's not because my writing stinks." Mrs. T seemed excited to discover that I was a writer, even if my books aren't in print...yet. So that's right people, I'm a writer! It's what I do, even if I'm still waiting on a paycheck. It's what I will always do.