Oh, my dear readers. I did not win the romance competition. Here’s who did. But I can honestly say that when I found out, I was a tiny bit disappointed, but not surprised. My book was a first draft of a Nanowrimo, for pete’s sake! The disappointment faded REALLY fast, though, probably less than a minute. Thank goodness. That’s how I thought it would go, but you never really know, do you?
And now, the best part, I get to take it back from them and edit the daylights out of it, make it mine again, and send it out! As a national competition finalist! Plus, I get five hundred smackeroos just for making it that far! See? Reason to celebrate! Yay! (Also, Trust Me was the one I hoped would win — it’s great. You should go back and read those two chapters if you’re bored.)
Thanks for reading, and thanks for believing, and I’ll let you know when it’s ready for reading again. You will get to read more about Abigail and Cade, never fear.
(Did I ever tell you why I named him Cade? I had a really good friend in undergrad, a guy named Cade. I thought his name was SO cool. He finally admitted to me one day that it wasn’t his birthname — he’d been David for a long time. But he was an addict, and spent a long time cleaning up, and when he got clean, he was dating a Harlequin romance writer. The character she was writing at that time was named Cade, so he took it, and re-wrote himself, and made it a legal change. Cade was a good man, and last I heard, he still is.)
Nanowrimo’s almost here. You doing it? (I think I am, but I’m scared this year — want to work on something totally different, and I don’t feel ready. Deep breath.)
Me, I’m still sick! This is ridiculous. I’ve been diagnosed with a sinus infection, so I’m on antibiotics for that, and I hope to feel better really soon. All I’ve been doing is sleeping and knitting, and while that’s nice, I’m getting bored. A hopeful sign, I think. Also, I have that Demi Moore/Kathleen Turner voice when the voice chooses to work at all, so I should really re-record our answering machine message right now.
Congratulations on being a finalist. What an honor! I hope that you spend the $500 on something very special.
I’m sure you’re thrilled to have made it to the finals and I’m happy for you. But still pouting that you didn’t win.
I’m so thrilled that you were a finalist!
I’m not doing NaNoWriMo as I MUST finish my novella dissertation by mid-November. I’ll be cheering on everyone, though!
Congratulations on being a finalist! I want to read more about Abigail and Cade.
Have you tried a neti pot to rinse your sinuses? You can get them at natural food/health stores. Basically, they look like plastic Aladdin’s lamps, you make a saline solution and yes, pour it up your nose. Trust me, it sounds nasty but it works – I have one on the advice of my doctor. I have chronic sinus infections and the neti pot is one of the few things that helps.
Congratulations! Enjoy the rewrite. 😉
Yeah, bein’ a finalist is such a cool thing! Congratulations on gettin’ that far!
I’m definitely doin’ NaNoWriMo this year, and like you, I don’t feel entirely ready either. I was drivin’ to work this morning and realized, oh my gosh, it starts day after tomorrow! Aigh!
I’m sorry you didn’t win, but it’s a great story and I definitely want to read more!
I think that’s a pretty healthy viewpoint, even if you can’t be described as healthy right now! Hope it all clears up soon. Being permanently under the weather sucks.
congratulations on being a finalist. sorry you didn’t win, but getting this far is still an awesome accomplishment!
I think that’s almost a better turn of events, giving you the opportunity to edit the manuscript exactly as you want to, and as you said, sending it out as a finalist manuscript is going to get it through the door at the very least.
Feel better soon, sweetpea!
I might be able to squeak in NaBloPoMo… Sorry you didn’t win, but you did a brave thing and got terrific feedback.
My brother’s name is Cade. My mom says she made it up. Very doubtful as I’ve seen is many a places. You can tell by my name, she liked the odd ones!
Sorry you didn’t win. But congratulations on being a finalist and the prize. You came a long way baby!
It was really good to see you at Rhinebeck. Congrats on getting that far with your book. You’ll go all the way next time for sure 🙂
Congratulations on being a finalist and winning the money! It could have been a lot worse and, as you say, submitting it as a finalist can’t hurt. And try the neti pot. Feel better soon.
Congratulations on being a finalist and winning the money! It could have been a lot worse and, as you say, submitting it as a finalist can’t hurt. And try the neti pot. Feel better soon.
Dude, you still get money? Awesome!
I will decide on NaNo tomorrow. I am waffling big time and most of it is fear related.
R, I’m sorry Rhinebeck seems to have taken you down. I have been sharing the sickness joy: V. (aka the cutest baby in the world, a la Janine) had roseola last week, and an ear infection. My price to pay for abandoning her for a day to see NY sheep? Worth it totally. SO nice to catch you, I feel lucky to have had a wee bit of your company.
p.s. I third Deborah C. and Joan in Reno on the neti pot, but do it where Lala can’t see you so she doesn’t make you laugh mid-pour.
Congratulations! I can’t wait to read the rest of it, after it’s published, as I’m sure it will be.
You are a FINALIST! And more than that, with that prize money, that makes you a PROFESSIONAL WRITER! You have received payment of sorts for your writing, yes? I can’t wait to read more, and it is great you will get to edit it yourself. Congrats anyway and feel better!
Yay for being a finalist! I’m doing NaNoWriMo again, with a totally unserious plot, but the St Louis Wrimos are such a cool group of people to hang out with!
BTW, your NaNo sidebar icon should be changing itself tomorrow or Thursday to the new whizzy one Hubby designed for the 2007 novelling madness.
You should be so proud of yourself! That’s still more than I’ve made from my writing (grin).
Incidentally, did you know I have a blog about writing and grammar now, too?
http://www.punctualityrules.com
Feel better!
The sexy voice is the only good thing about being sick. I would be tempted to re-record my answering machine message, too ;-).
I’ve thought about NaNoWriMo for the past two years. I even got the book through Bookmooch last year. Perhaps I will dredge up the courage to write something this year.
You have a good attitude about the contest, who knows what other, bigger good thing will come of NOT having won? Some other opportunity will surely knock.
I honestly and truly think your story was better…*sigh* Oh well. You’ll make it anyway so it’s not a huge loss! Can’t wait to read the whole story! 🙂
Rachael
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take mucinex for your sinus infection it works concurrently with antibiotics but I have found that you can actually prevent an infection if you flush out your passages with a nettie pot or saltaire pump and take lots of mucinex! The doctors don’t want to tell you this stuff cause they want you to keep them in bi’ness but believe me mucinex and flushing out your sinuses on a regular basis is good preventive maintenance for sinus issues. I had problems for years and now I don’t get infections as much because I do these things.
I am sooooo disappointed for you (and for me because I really want to read more. And soon). You are a very talented writer. I am so glad that you are keeping at it (and how cool is it that you can add this particular claim to fame to your cv?).