Dancing - Again!

This past weekend was difficult as I realized once again that I wasn't a finalist in the Genesis contest. The wound deepened when I received my judges' scoresheets and discovered 2 out of the 3 judges just didn't 'get' the story. I won't complain about the comments, but I will say I shook my head at a couple of them.

On Sat afternoon I received word that someone else had won the Duel on the Delta contest. Ugh. Very disheartening. But I'm up here at St Peter's Abbey for the Saskatchewan Romance Writer's annual retreat and my fellow writers are wonderful support. Between them and the Inkies, they pulled me out of my doldrums and rewarded me with chocolate - both in physical and virtual realities.

After supper I walked the beautiful grounds taking photos and trying to shed my disappointment.

Imagine my surprise, then on Sunday afternoon when I was working on my Tues history post for the Inkwell when my iPhone rang. The theme song of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly filled my small room as I scrambled to answer the phone that never rings.

A really nice woman in Virginia called to say I'd finaled in the Fool For Love contest. Really? I think I blubbered as I thanked her. It was almost too much after the weekend's disappointments. Almost.

I hung up the phone and let out a whoop. It echoed down the hall as a bunch of eavesdroppers broke into a cheer. My fellow writers had once again appeared at just the right time to support me. Heh.

Yes, I'm happy dancing again. But with all the ups and downs, I might switch to a jig or something.

This photo is take from the top floor of St Peter's College. The building in the foreground is Scholastica which is our home while at the retreat. Except for walks and our meals, our time is spent in our individual rooms working on our works-in progress, or talking writing in the lounge.

I leave the Abbey tomorrow morning and continue a research trip I started en route here. If you want to see some photos of 19th century buildings, check out my HBC Research Trip post over at Inkwell Inspirations on Tues.

Have a great day!

Happy Dancin'

Last Friday the phone rang while I was writing. It's still too cold to work out in my office so I'm in the living room for a few more weeks. Nelson sat behind me playing a video game, but since he has an aversion for talking on the phone I reached for it. My pulse increased when I spotted the area code because it wasn't a Cdn one. Nor was it an 800, 888 or that one will all zeros.

When the caller said she was Ane Mulligan from the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), I knew it was good news about a contest. I'd spent March entering 5 different writing contests and writers volunteer as coordinators and judges for many different contests. Of the 5 contests I entered, the earliest I expected a response was around Apr 18th from Duel on the Delta.

But Ane called on Apr 8th. I was so excited. And confused. She said I'd semi-finaled. I missed the 'semi' part because writing contests don't have 'semi-finalists'... you go from a contestant to the finals. Even in big contests like the Genesis where there are 60 or so entries in a category like mine - Historical Romance.

When Ane said 'semi-finalist', I heard 'finalist'. She went into details about what I needed to do when my manuscript was returned in a couple days and the deadline for the final round. I read her words... but I was still confused because she hadn't actually said the name of the contest yet.

So I finally blurted out, this is for the Fool for Love, right? It was the first contest that came to mind because it was the last I'd entered.

Ane said no, I semi-finaled in the Genesis.

The Genesis? How can I describe my feeling when she said that one word... a thousand horses galloping through me veins... a landslide of boulders tumbling down a mountain... freefalling before pulling the cord to open your parachute...

She explained that the Genesis had changed. My entry had scored high enough to be in the top 20% of my category and would now go on to a new semi-final round. I know I sounded like a dope. And if I didn't know Ane, I'd believe she thought I was a dope. Thank goodness we've met and she knows better. I hope.

The word is... I'm officially a semi-finalist in the Genesis and my entry is against 14 others in this next round as there were 73 in the Historical Romance category. The announcement for the finalists will come in mid-May.

To keep myself grounded, I'm telling myself it's no big deal - just another step in a contest. But I've received enough personal congratulary emails from writing friends - some from my favourite authors - to realize this is a big deal. It's the Genesis. And it may be the only call I get from the Genesis people. (Not that I don't believe in my writing, but judges are readers and not every reader likes what I write or how I write it.)

So please allow me to gloat over this 'call'. Breathe Anita ... just breathe...