In Good Company

One of the scariest aspects of writing (and there are many) is allowing your work to stand against other writers and books. It would be easy to simply say, "Okay, I have a book published; it's lovely to hold and look at; people are saying nice things," and just let it go at that. And yet, there is this tiny part of a writer's heart that says, "Yeah, but how does it compare to other books?"

There are numerous places to submit published works. Conference contests. National book awards. Regional prizes. Genre contests named after famous authors like Agatha or Bram Stoker. Either the author or publisher has to submit to these contests, and it is time sensitive in that most awards given in 2011 are for books published in the previous calendar year.

Like I said, it's a scary business, and yes, I've thrown my debut book, Chasing Lilacs, out there with a few prayers. The Oklahoma Center for the Book is the organization that presents the premiere Oklahoma Book Awards, choosing winners from finalists in five published categories. The criteria is specific: books must be set in Oklahoma or the author must be an Oklahoma native or resident. And as you might have guessed by now, this Oklahoma girl's Chasing Lilacs is a finalist in the fiction category along with five others. I'm honored and humbled.

How will my little coming-of-age story stack up against the others? I have no idea. I did check out the other finalists in fiction. The stories all sound fascinating and it makes me a little nervous. I think the competition will be tough, but come what may, I'm already honored to just be a finalist.

You may see a list of all the finalists here or here. Also I found this new review at Okie Reads last week.

The award ceremony is April 9 in Oklahoma City. Will I be scared? Probably.

But I'm glad I entered.