Picture of the Gold Award Winners

John Goodwin of Galaxy Press, the publisher of the Writers of the Future anthologies, was kind enough to pass on today's copy of the daily Publisher's Weekly newletter. They have a picture of the day at the bottom and I'm in it!

I'm in the middle with the red dress. Makes me easy to find, doesn't it!

I remember having to go up and pose for photos after the ceremony was over, but at the time I had no idea where or if I would ever see those photos. I'm relieved at how well it turned out. I was in make-up for three hours the afternoon leading up to the ceremony, and I didn't get a good look at my overall appearance because I was in such a hurry that I was about to miss the photo shoot if I didn't get dressed! As it was, I missed the opportunity for an interview because I was tied up so long. (I'm sorry!)

Standing with me in the photo are Ron Lindahn, illustrator judge; June Scobee Rodgers, our keynote speaker (her speech had me in tears!); Gunhild Jacobs of Galaxy Press; Seth J. Rowanwood, the Gold Award winner for the illustrators (he has the most awesome business cards!); John Goodwin, president of Galaxy Press; Joni Labaqui, our extremely helpful contest director; Martin Kove, one of the actors who helped present the awards; and K. D. Wentworth, who is probably best known to aspiring writers as the coordinating judge of the Writers of the Future contest.

All entries go through K. D. first, and she was kind enough to pass mine on for further judging. If she hadn't enjoyed "Living Rooms" I wouldn't be where I am now!

Welcome to the Rebirth of the Rat's Den

The Rat's Den was my old writer web site. It's not back in presentable shape, but upon the advice of one Jordan Lapp I have at least set up a web presence, which is important when one is the winner of a prestigeous award.

It's difficult to explain everything in a single beginning blog post, at its simplest level I am a fantasy and science fiction writer and this past Saturday I recently won the the grand prize to the annual Writers of the Future contest. WotF is intended for the amateur writer who may have the talent, but lack the professional credits to establish themselves. The contest is extremely well regarded, and the combined prize money for winning the grand prize is more substantial than some authors receive for their first novel.

I'm afraid I sound very frank in this opening post, with none of the emotion that should have come from winning such a momentous award, but I really just wanted to write this to get the blog started. I've listed my fellow WotF Winners in my blog sidebar. If you somehow manage to stublem across my blog at this early date, please go visit my fellow winners as well.

We were all there together, and it was a experience I wanted to soak up for all it was worth. I don't normally stay up to 2 or 3 in the morning, but I did, because these guys were all a class act, I wanted to hang out with them, and I knew I would miss them once the workshop was over. I already do.

And if you're reading this, guys, what Tom said was right. We gotta take over the world!