THE JACK OF SOULS won first place in the PNWA Competition!

A week ago last night, I learned that my fantasy novel, The Jack of Souls, won the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s unpublished novel competition for the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. I’m just getting over the shock, so I feel I can post it. PNWA-logo

The announcement ran after they cleared plates from the awards dinner at the conference. Before announcing winners, they announced the names of all eight finalists and their novels, ala Oscars format.

It took a long time. Cruelly, they served no wine at the tables.

As they listed each finalist and the title of their novel, I imagined a door of probability slowly closing. Six years ago I submitted to the contest and didn’t even make the finalists, so now with each finalist name, it seemed the door closed a little more. When they announced the second place winner, only a crack of light remained, so it was extremely surreal when they announced my name next and I saw The Jack of Souls on the screen.

I rose and accepted the award and sat again. I know this because I found myself at the dinner table with the same people I’d eaten with, the award folder in my hands.

Here’s the link to the results of all the category winners for the competition:

http://www.pnwa.org/?page=2014contestwinners

An agent/editor party followed, where I met some fun and interesting people including the agent who judged the contest. Good things in the offing!

8 thoughts on “THE JACK OF SOULS won first place in the PNWA Competition!

  1. Just saw this on the schools Facebook page, congratulations! I miss having you class still and wish I got to finish Huckleberry Finn with the class. This has me inspired to start trying to write again.

    • Hey, great to hear from you! Keep a journal, Jonathan. You wont regret it, and it will put mileage on your pen. That is how I learned to write. Plus, it can be a great space for mental and emotional therapy and celebration. Good luck to you! Come by when you are in Terrace! : )

    • Thanks, Rachel! Thanks for giving it a read. The wonderful thing about Wattpad is hearing from readers like you and simply knowing it reached someone, touched someone, moved someone to smile or scowl and keep turning pages. : ) Writing can feel so isolated, otherwise.

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