in the categories for which I was short-listed...
Non-Fiction Category
Marrow Memory: Essays of Discovery
by Margaret Nowaczyk
Kerry Schooley Book Award Category
As Is
by Ben Robinson
BUT a wonderful evening, a chance to read an excerpt to an attentive audience, and the literary equivalent of a bronze medal. Not too shabby, and also consistent with my writing advice in the final essay in the book...
"On a scale of notoriety from one to Margaret
Atwood, get comfortable with single digits. Enter contests, submit to
newspapers, start a blog. Word counts and deadlines impose discipline. If being
published matters, pursue it as a separate activity using the ratio of a tart
vinaigrette. Five hours of writing for each hour seeking fame. Unlike Ashley
Audrain, the author of The Push who heard back the same bloody day, you
will wait months after sending in a manuscript. If the answer is no, resist the
temptation to slide under the table. Like the thirty-one-film comedy franchise,
Carry On."
