Hello and Happy Friday,
I know I’m blogging today instead of Friday but something was on my mind: I’ve decided to enter You Don’t Know Me in a writing contest. Boo—right? I dislike entering contests, well book contest for one-- I don’t like short story contest either-- I never win and for another I hate paying to enter the contest and never win. I have won a few screenplay contests though with a prize or two along with it but it’s different from winning a contest for a novel. I’m entering the Writer’s Digest Self-Publishing Contest ( http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/self_published) that’s calling for entries through the end of April. The contest is open to all kinds of self-published novels including genre fiction. Do I think it’s worth it? The prizes for the grand prize winner will be three thousand dollars, promotion in Writers Digest and Publisher’s Weekly, your novel to major newspapers, distribution to Baker and Taylor, a guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, a workshop and one or two other things. There will also be 9 first place winners who will get one thousand dollars and a few other prizes—sounds great.
Do I think I’ll win at the one-hundred dollar entry fee? Well, possibly not the grand prize because my novel is genre, its crime and mystery, not pretty and my kind of novels don’t win grand prizes; at least I don’t believe they do. Do I have a chance at being one of the nine first place winners? Maybe, again the people who read the novels probably go by a formula that would not fit my novel so my hopes aren’t high. Honorable mention possibly? Yes, I think I could fit here. So if I’m going for Honorable Mention possibly, why even send the novel and the money; don’t forget the money, at all? Well, it’s kind of like the lottery I’ll say. Though I don’t play the actual lottery I can pick up at the gas station, everybody plays some kind of lottery don’t they? Even if our chances are nine million to one and we’re the one. So entering this book contest is my lottery. And let me say like that one—heck like everyone of the nine-million--I always have hope it’ll be me this time and because I believe in my novel, I believe it’s a terrific story and has a chance like all the other novels submitted so its up to me to give it that one chance and all the other chances that comes its way.
So I’m saying good-bye to my book and the hundred books. We’ll see in October 2008 how it did though no matter what, prize or no prize, it’s a terrific story and novel that makes me proud, very, very proud.
Keep writing too.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.