There are many contests and competitions out there you can enter if you’re an author. Many of them are very tempting, and they’re usually expensive to enter and the odds are so great against one winning. Every once in a while, I’ll enter one of my books in one of those for independent “indie” publishers, but I’ve never entered one just as an author.
So imagine my surprise last year, when I looked in my inbox to find a post telling me I’d won one!
Of course at first, I thought it was just another spam scam, looking for money or to hack into my email account. But no, it was legit. Turns out there’s this area events-focused magazine—Bucks Happening that holds an annual “best of” type contest for any number of categories ranging from “Most Happening Nightspot” to “Most Happening Artist.” Because I live in Bucks County, PA—an area with a long history of embracing and nurturing the arts—there was even a “Most Happening Author” category, and that’s the one I won.
So, big deal, right? Well…kinda, yeah. Because first of all, I didn’t even know about this contest. Second of all, I didn’t know I’d been nominated. And most of all, because this isn’t a thing where the hosting publication nominates you for its own self-promotional reasons; you get nominated by someone in the reading public. In short, someone who’d read my book actually thought enough of it to nominate me for this honor. And that, my friends, is the kind of thing an author lives for.
Sure, you can look on it as a flimsy popularity contest of sorts, and I suppose to some extent, that’s true. But since I’ve never spent one second of my life thinking of myself as a “popular” person, I choose instead to see this as recognition bestowed by someone who thought enough of my work to earn me the honor, with no reflection on themselves because it was done anonymously.
I’ll take that every time, and gratefully!
So, as nominations are again open for this year’s Most Happening List, I reflect on how thrilled I was to receive last year’s honor, and take this opportunity to say thanks to that person who nominated me, and to all those who voted and helped me win. I appreciate everyone who’s ever read my work, and hope you all enjoyed it and will take a look when my next book comes out.