Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Resistance is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist!

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I’m so excited I hardly know what to say right now. Resistance is one of six finalists in the Christian Fantasy/Sci-Fi category in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards!! I’ve been anxiously awaiting this news since I entered it in May. The finalists were supposed to be announced on July 1st, but they had so many entries this year, that they needed an extra two weeks to make their final selections. You can imagine how anxious I was those two weeks, especially yesterday. I kept checking my email through the day, thinking I wouldn’t get it until today, but then, right before I was about to go to bed, the email came. Oh my goodness, my heart was beating so fast. I sat for a moment wondering if I should even look at it. After all, if I didn’t make it, I’d have to try to sleep while dealing with the disappointment. But I’d be up all night wondering anyway, so I opened the email, read it carefully, held my breath, and clicked on the finalists link. I was still holding my breath as I scrolled through what felt like an endless number of categories before I finally reached Christian Fantasy. And there, right at the top of the list, was my name. I think I let out a little squeak and looked over at my mom to exclaim something along the lines of, “I’m a finalist!” I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

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I can still hardly believe it. I’ve never entered any of my work in a contest before, and to be a finalist in one so large is incredible. I mean, Jim Carrey is a finalist in one of the children’s book categories. How cool is that? I think I’m going to be in a bit of a daze for the next day or two. And, of course, now the anxious waiting begins for the announcement of the winners on September 1st. I can hardly wait for that. Thank you SO much to everyone who’s been such an encouragement to me while I’ve been writing and publishing Ilyon Chronicles. I’m so excited to see how God uses the entire series and where it takes me in the future.