Marie is the winner of the Water Keep ARC. :yeah:  My daughter picked her entry from the hat. Marie, I will send your address to Mr. Savage and ask him to get a signed copy out to you ASAP.

And while we’re on the subject of winners…I didn’t win, but I got a runner-up slot in the SCBWI WIP grants for 2008. I placed in the unpublished division. That is very cool.
What’s that? You’re not sure what the work in progress grant is? Oh, no problem. Let me give you a little info about it.

No, no, no, I insist.
This is some of what Sue Burgess says on the tip sheet on how to apply:

Just as important as the money is the prestige of having a project deemed “worthy of publication.” Every year there are editors watching for the Bulletin announcement so they can contact Grant recipients.

Yes, I’m happy to get the money, but I’m happier at the thought of editors wanting to contact Grant recipients.

I like the thought of reaching a tipping point.

For years and years and years, I’ve been going to conferences and watching, and thinking about how a wannabe can stand out from the thousands upon thousands of hungry writers who go to conferences each year. To the editors, we’re just a sea of faces. Unknown and unproven.

As you go along, you get better at the pitching and the writing and the understanding of what editors want and what ideas electrify them. As you submit and are rejected, you grow. Editors may still reject you, but after a while you move out of the unknown sea into a smaller pond–those who bear watching. Those who are almost there.

And some writers, if they are patient and if they work hard, will hit the tipping point, and instead of pursuing the editors, they will sit back while the editors pursue them. I’ve seen it happen.

Of course, I’m not there. I may never be there. But I have to admit, it’s kind of fun, after years of feeling a little like a virus the editors are trying to avoid at all costs, to have someone say, “Now some editors are going to take note of your name and some may even contact you.”  heh heh The very thought makes me giddy.

But even though the editors probably aren’t going to be beating down my door, it’s very cool to have industry professionals deem my project “worthy of publication.” Nothing against my mom, or anything, but when someone thinks every bit of writing you scribble out is brilliant, it’s just a little hard to believe that she is a fair judge of the matter.
So, anyway, let’s celebrate!

{Where is the champagne-drinking smiley when you want him?}

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