Big News

So friends, I have news to share. I've been waiting to post it to this blog until the opportune moment, and I apologize to those of you who've heard all this before, perhaps multiple times. No need to read it if that's the case. After all, what follows is rather lengthy . . . .

Story, story. Stooory. Once upon a time. Time, time. (You'll get it if you're from Nigeria).

Earlier this month, I attended the Write to Publish conference in Wheaton. I went with the goal of pitching a novel that I've written, currently titled Days to Destruction. For those of you who follow this blog, you read a few chapters of an early draft under the titles Gods and Chaos and Days of Telenine. I'm still not sure how happy I am with the new title, for the record.

Before leaving for the conference, I researched all the editors, publishers, and agents who would be in attendance, and realized that I really wanted to pitch to Rowena Kuo of Brimstone Fiction. Unfortunately, I also realized that she would be judging the Editor's Choice Award, given annually at Write to Publish. Brimstone is a traditional speculative-fiction publisher (spec-fic is "weird stuff" for all you non-nerdy types), and I was especially excited that Brimstone targets the general market, not just Christian markets. The Editor's Choice Award comes with a publishing option and full mentorship, both of which are uber cool. But in the end, I was dissapointed that Rowena was judging it because I knew everyone would want to pitch to her, and that would make it difficult to find a time. But find a time I did, and the pitch went pretty well. She asked if I was planning to attend her manuscript critique group, one of the steps in the award process. She probably asked that of everyone with a decent pitch.

The critique group also went well. Then she asked if I'd be attending her novel proposal critique group. I hadn't been. My full proposal was several months old and badly in need of editing. But I figured that saying no was a bad idea, so I stayed up that night and stitched some things together. The next day, my tablet acted up in the middle of the session, so I decided to let it pass. But when the last person had finished, there were still a few extra minutes. So what the heck? Besides a little dignity, what had I to lose? As the tablet drained of its last battery in updates, I managed to present basically everything I wanted. Then Mrs. Kuo asked to borrow overnight the manuscript hardcopy I had with me. I hope you can imagine my anxiety as I said yes and spent a fretful night trying not to think about it. Felt like a dagger to the gut, I'm telling you.

The next day was the last of the conference, at the end of which would be the final banquet, where the awards are presented. I only saw Mrs. Kuo once, on a sidewalk where she offered my manuscript back. I asked if she had any input, and she said yes, but she'd like me to send it to her. That was really cool, but I confess I'd been halfway hoping that I had a shot at the Editor's Choice Award. Anyway, I went to get cleaned up, then made my way to the banquet. Such good food. I'm telling you, Write to Publish is worth it just for that chicken stuffed with spinach and dribbled in tangy orange sauce! But really. Good. Stuff.

When the meal finished, they announced the awards. The first two recipients of different awards weren't actually present, and then Mrs. Kuo went up to announce the Editor's Choice Award. She shuffled a paper out of a manila envelope. She spoke a name.

And it turned out that I won.

Me holding the award, standing with Rowena Kuo (left) and Cindy Huff, last year's winner of the Editor's Choice Award. Perhaps providentially, Mrs. Huff is actually the wife of the man who advised me in how to prepare for the conference. We were randomly assigned to be a "Paul and Timothy" mentoring pair beforehand. It worked! Also, I plan to write a blog post on preparing for Writing Conferences, but in the mean time, you should really check out Cindy's blog, located here.

Thanks for reading, friends! If you slogged through all that, you're really cool and I really appreciate that. Not that I wouldn't and you aren't if you hadn't, but I think you understand. smile emoticon Thanks. I'll be working with someone from Brimstone Fiction over the coming while to edit further drafts of my manuscript. Ultimately, the goal of publication lies at the end of the long darkness.

Oh, here's a short write-up about the award from my college, Taylor University.

Story over!