Writer Stuff Continues

I'm on a writerly roll lately.

Last Tuesday, I signed copies of Ferradiddledumday at Ferrum College's Women's Leadership Conference. Four authors had a table in Franklin Hall, where most of the conference events were held.

I taught at Ferrum from 1999 to 2006, so it was nice to return and visit former colleagues. It was also nice not to have to tote books in; the college bookstore ordered 25 copies; I signed fifteen for buyers and the rest will go onto the bookstore shelves.

Today, some of my winnings from the CNU contest arrived:

 This is the first trophy clock I've ever won. I think it's a really cool clock. My check should arrive next week—which will also be really cool.

The coolest thing, though, were judge's comments about my entry, "The Query Letter From Helen," in which a clueless author wanna-be with a failing marriage queries a publisher in all the wrong ways.

Here's what the judge said:

This is a truly hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny story, beautifully done and just so delightful. The way Helen's marital humiliation is woven in is deft and so much fun; there is even an astonishing poignancy to the work-in-progress of her efforts to integrate her catastrophes into her art, even as we laugh and laugh. I think the story overreaches at moments, trying too hard at a few points for laughs that are too easy; but as a whole this is simply fantastic, a perfect comic tour de force with a surprisingly potent resonance for any aspiring writer. 

Kind of makes my day—which was already a pretty good day, since I spent it at Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. But I'll blog about that tomorrow.

~