I’d like to offer my sincerest congratulations to the worthy winners who made the cut to round three of the Gather First Chapters Writing Competition.
To have been selected as a semi-finalist was an accomplishment. But for these 10 individuals, to make it to round three is something to be extremely proud of. It is a testament to their talents, and they all deserve a round of applause.
Obviously, I wish I could count TRACKS, my novel in stories, as one of the 10 finalists. It didn’t quite make the final cut. And I think it’s safe to say that all 10 semi-finalists that didn’t make round three were worthy of publication. So were many of the manuscripts that didn’t advance to round two.
According to the Contest Administrator, it was a very tight race. “By advancing into Round Two, you were amongst a group of 20 very talented individuals out of a total of 2,676 manuscripts received.”
In a market where one book is published for every 30,000 submitted, there will always be good work that doesn’t make it. And the work that does make it -- like these ten finalists -- deserves credit for making it to the top of America’s slush pile.
As for me, now it’s back to the quiet (and more peaceful) work of sending my manuscript to the literary agents who have expressed an interest in TRACKS. And the more subtle success of writing and publishing stories.
But first, my best wishes for continued success to all 10 finalists. Regardless of the outcome, you are all winners!
For a list of the 10 winners and their third chapters, visit the announcement at the following link.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976972430
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Comments: 24
I've been reading from the sidelines (just haven't had time to always comment) and I've seen you have a lot of interest from publishers. You'll get your contract. It's almost fated to be so.
Keep submitting and let us know when to look for it on the shelves.
You deserved to be there. It's too bad that undue attention was focused on you...and that the real cheater was able to advance.
Best of luck to you in your writing career!
And who would he or she be?
JUNCTION BOULEVARD!