A Book Toast to Three (Ian, Karen, and Me)

Sorry, hee hee. I couldn't pass up the rhyming opportunity! But the good news among the Raleigh writers just keeps pouring in! So, here are three more reasons to celebrate:

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First, a toast to the amazing Karen Lee, whose book ABC Safari has just been awarded the Bronze Medal in the category of ABC/counting books by the Independent Publishers Moonbeam Children's Book Awards! Look for the bronze medallion on her covers in bookstores everywhere! And a second big congrats to Karen for having the two newest books she's illustrated, One Odd Day and My Even Day both flying into stores from Silvan Dell. Congrats, Karen! You're on a roll!

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And a second Toast, to Ian Sands , for receiving an Illustrators "Award of Excellence" at the SCBWI Carolina's Fall conference for his artwork entitled "Fox Steals a Kite!" Go Ian! Go Ian!

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And here's a third toast - erg, to me actually.

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I am thrilled to report that the novels I've been working on (Orion's Apprentice, and The Prince of Chains and Letters) have both been awarded Honorable Mentions in the Writer's Digest Annual contest for children's fiction. The award letters tell me that there were 16,000 entries (so firstly I started wondering if that was a typo, since it seems that the sweet judges had to read all of our submissions. God bless them!) But since apparently it wasn't, I'm feeling extremely honored to have had both of my books noticed among such a large crowd of great writers!

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(Seriously, I'm still pretty much lying on the floor hypervenalating with joy!)
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So THANKS Writer's Digest, for the vote of confidence! It's amazing what a little encouragement like this can do for the soul, the editors, and the muse.

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And now I'm off to do NANO in November. And for those whose lives are not already crazy enough, I would highly recommend that you join me. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's a fun experience in which thousands of published and not-yet-published novelists each attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.

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And yes, there are "real" writers doing nano. It's a great kick-start to pull you out of writing funks! The cameraderie and weekly deadlines will get you writing that first draft quicker than you ever thought possible. Plus there are fun t-shirts, and comic emails from Nano-leader Chris Baty, that shouldn't be missed! So I'll be nanoing for the third time this year. And, for those who might wonder -- the first two books I started during Nano are the two that were just awarded the Honorable Mentions'. So yes, this is a serious enterprise, as long as you're seriously willing to revise.

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So do join me. Come, Nano... And let's get a little book-crazy together.