The Art of Enchantment wins Chatelaine Grand Prize

To celebrate the exciting news that The Art of Enchantment won not only the top category prize for contemporary Romance and Women’s Fiction, but also the Chatelaine Grand Prize, I’ve created a Goodreads Giveaway for three first edition copies of the print book. Click on the box to enter between April 17th and 25th!

So, this is why I’m a writer…

And yes, it feels great to be singled out from among a huge group of extremely talented and dedicated authors to be given this prize. Obviously it makes me happy and proud, and it’s a great way to launch my newest baby into the world.

 

But that’s not what I’m talking about…

In fact at the Chanticleer Author’s Conference Awards Banquet April 1st in Bellingham, WA, I was pretty thrilled when the book was called out as the category winner. Awkward in public settings as always, I was nevertheless okay with walking up to receive my blue ribbon, pretty chill receiving the congratulations of my fellow writers in the room, and content to drink wine and laugh at stupid jokes with my new friend and table-mate, writing guru Margie Lawson.

Within a few short minutes, the room went silent as each of the Grand Prize winners was announced. When they got to the Chatelaine, the speaker read out my series title first, before mentioning the book title, and I, since I’d just changed it twenty times before publishing it, didn’t recognize it! I just sat there smiling, happy for whomever was winning the prize.

And the Socially Awkward Introvert Grand Prize goes to…

Then, stunned to realize they were talking about me, I went up to receive my second ribbon in so many minutes, and the only thing in my head was…”That’s a pathetic series title! Is that really the best you could come up with?” So when I got to the podium and saw, gak! the microphone, all I was capable of saying out loud was a muttered, “Thank you, thank you very much. Uh…” I then proceeded to drink too much wine for the rest of the evening.

A Revisionist Worldview

It wasn’t until about, oh, four days later, lying awake in the middle of the night, that I thought of what I should have said. Something along the lines of…

“Thank you [ladies and gentlemen…except writers are seldom so formal]. I especially want to thank Kiffer and Andy and their staff for all their hard work year round, running a stellar writing contest, making professional book reviews available, and organizing this brilliant author’s conference.

Thanks also to the many judges who read thousands of manuscripts and had to choose from among so many excellent, worthy stories, to single out just a few to recognize tonight. I’m humbled and honored to receive this award. Congratulations to all the winners, short-listers, and to all the writers to completed their manuscripts and entered the contests. Bravo. And don’t ever quit.

It’s opportunities like this that help to bring us writer-trolls out of our dark and solitary hovels, to mingle with other writers, learn, be stimulated, practice our social skills, and to shine a light on some of the new works and emerging voices in this increasingly crowded publishing marketplace.”

Or some such. By the time I fell asleep I’d revised it five times and decided I was too verbose anyway and it was just as well I became catatonic in the spotlight or I’d be one of those people the long hooks were invented for, and have to be dragged from the stage.

That’s why I’m a writer,

…and not a press secretary or a lawyer or a politician or tv host.

So here’s a formal thank you and shout out to Chanticleer Book Reviews and Contests and all the hard-working people who made this possible. Please check out the official announcement of all the winners on the Chanticleer website, and follow them so you receive the book reviews that this organization makes possible. And then buy the books you like, and take a moment afterwards to post a favorable review on Amazon or Goodreads or Librarything.

Because we writer-trolls need all the love and attention we can get.