K is for Kudos

Ana celebrates--and gives thanks!

Last week I was surprised to final in two categories in the Pages from the Heart contest.
Stormy Hawkins finaled in the Unpublished Author Historical category.
Ammi Folkright, my current WIP, finaled in the Unpublished Author Suspense category.

I haven't had time to fully digest the first-round judges' comments. It's always better to read them and then walk away for a week or two.

I sure appreciate my crit partners, who helped me earn comments like this:

You are very good at getting the backstory out without info dumping.

Smooth writing. Very polished. Great descriptions and world-building. I can see it in my mind’s eye the whole time. The balance between showing and telling is terrific…it is a really hard thing to do, and it really sets a story on a higher level to do it well.

Your descriptions were well done. There was enough to "see" everything without slowing down the pace of the entry.

It's easy to tell the characters apart by their "voices."

There were critical comments a-plenty, but the nice ones made for a good balance. I won't need to withdraw and lick my wounds.

NEWS FLASH! I just heard (as in an hour ago) from the editor at Entangled who requested a full. She wants me to revise the second half and then she''ll make the final decision to accept or reject. I agreed to do it.