Random Musings

Entering a book you’ve written into a contest is always a crapshoot that can feel like you’re aiming a BB gun at your pinkie toe and wondering if it’s going to hurt.

But you do it anyway, because as a writer you’re just kind of supposed to do it. Pull the trigger, deal with the ensuing limp.

So I did it. I had two eligible books for the 2024 GCLS Awards, which is all about lesbian/wlw fiction. I was up against stiff competition and and really didn’t think I had much of a chance, and getting through as a finalist felt pretty great. I tried not to think about it too much on the night and figured I’d find out on Sunday who won (i.e. not me).

And on Sunday morning my wife came in and jumped on me. She’d waited as long as she could but she simply had to tell me the news:

Both books won.

The sapphic romance as well as the sapphic vampire book. Two different pen names, two different categories.

I’ve been dealing with some serious imposter syndrome lately, and trying to get to my writing chair has been like swimming against a tide with a hippo tied to my ankles. I have to admit, this helps. At least, the hippo seems to have swum off to tether itself to other writers. (Did you know hippos are writer predators? Totally true. It says so on the internet.)

Anyway. I thought I’d share that. If you’re interested you can find the sapphic romance here, and the vampire book here.