In Which I Flail a Lot

I already posted about this on IG and FB, but I know that some of you only follow me here on the blog, so I wanted to make sure you heard the news!

So… the other day I saw over on the Realm Makers Consortium that the Finalists for this year’s Realm Awards had been posted.

I also got an email about it, because I’m signed up for ALL the updates.

And while, yes, I had entered several different pieces… I must confess that I clicked the link with absolutely zero hope or confidence. I mostly opened the link just to see which of my Realmie friends I should go congratulate for making the finals.

I immediately saw a few titles and authors I recognized…

…

…

and then I saw my own title. My own name.

Twice.

An Echo of the Fae.

Finalist in the Fantasy and Middle Grade categories.

I just sort of sat there.

Staring.

I don’t react to excitement the way you see in movies. There’s really no squealing. No jumping up and down. That all happens on the inside. Or possibly in a parallel dimension I’m only quasi-aware of.

I’m a weirdo.

But I immediately went to screech about it on my facebook author page.

And then I scrolled up and down a few more times… and that’s when I realized I had missed something.

Earl’s Dilemma.

Finalist in the flash fiction category!

I think that’s when it really sort of hit me that this was real. That my name… mine… was actually sitting there on that list next to other authors, fantastic authors, authors I look up to and whose books I love. And the honor of that… just sort of knocked me over.

Metaphorically speaking. I was already sitting down. I didn’t actually fall over. I just sort of… fell over mentally.

I am absolutely over the moon about this, and sooooooooo excited. And even if Echo and Earl go no further than the finalist lists…. (hahahaha finalist-list)…. this was such an encouraging moment. Such a heart-squeeze from the Lord. Some of you may remember that An Echo of the Fae was a project that really took over my life without my really intending to write it in the first place (or at least, not at that particular moment) and became a project that I felt like God really jumped in and wrote with me… and that was enough, really. It was such a wild, awesome ride, that even if it never won any sort of accolades or gained any attention whatsoever, I was satisfied with what we had written together, and simply that we wrote it together. But this was like a whisper of love from my Creator, telling me that yes, this story really was good.

An extra special congratulations from me to Beka Gremikova, H.L. Burke, Tara Grayce, Lindsay A Franklin, and Anne Wheeler, whose books I have read and loved and agree they absolutely belong on this list.

I’m still amazed someone said mine should be up there with them!

And An Echo of the Fae is ALSO eligible for the Reader’s Choice Award (formerly known as The Alliance Award). So… if you read it and enjoyed it… would you consider nominating it?