Another stupendous piece of news. I've received notice that "Dancing on His Grave" is a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association (PNWA) annual writing competition. This is a prestigious organization, based in the Seattle area, that has been around since 1955. They've aided in the discovery of a number of best-selling authors. I couldn't have been more stunned. The person who called told me that theirs is now an international competition, with entries coming in from, for example, China, Dubai, Spain, the UK, Australia, Canada (to name a few) and all over the U.S. The memoir category had hundreds of entries, and only eight were chosen. Even more interesting, the choices for finalist were made from a synopsis of the story and the first twenty or so pages of the book. Some of the more horrifying events in my story and my sisters' stories were not part of the review.

Even if being selected as a finalist is as far as this goes, it will still engender notice from agents, editors and publishers, who will make the final selections of winners. Even after all the work I've done over the past seven years, I would still go to a mainstream publisher if they offered an advance that would pay back my sizable investment in this project. I am poised to do a complete revision, whether or not the book--or books--are picked up by a publisher. I'd like to think that I've become a better writer since "Dancing" was self-published.

I'm keeping very busy shipping copies of "Chasing Ghosts," and unpacking boxes.