This announcement is a little late coming, but I thought I’d let everyone know the details of my latest novel’s belly crawl toward publication. On that front, there are two exciting new developments!

First, in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I should explain that every year I submit a book to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) competition, a cutthroat (kidding, sort of) Hunger Games-esque battle to the death — or, well, the contest finals — for a publishing contract with Amazon.com. Mostly, I enter for fun, but — shh! — I’m also secretly in love with Amazon Publishing and want them to have my book baby.

Back in March my (finally titled!) book – Emmaline Waters, This Is Your Life – advanced to the second round of the contest based on a pitch similar to a blurb I posted here a while ago. Then, on April 14th, the book advanced to the quarter-finals based on a +/- 5,000-word excerpt that was positively reviewed by two of Amazon’s expert reviewers. Since the book is still in the running for ABNA, I have decided to delay publication until if/when it is cut from the contest. (Look for an announcement here in mid-June either way.)

The stroke of luck described above will henceforth be referred to as Pixie Dust #1 — which leads me to Pixie Dust #2.

Pixie Dust #2 is pretty much self-explanatory, so …

Ready?

Set?

Swoon :)

Once again, the lovely and talented Karri Klawiter has designed a gorgeous cover that perfectly captures the heart of my book. Huge, huge thanks and good karma to her! There’s a reason her schedule is booked months in advance.

That’s it for now, I suppose — other than praying for Pixie Dust #3, which could (please?) take the form of a contest win and/or a wildly successful book launch. (Really, I’m not picky: either one would do!)

Wish me luck …

In the meantime, follow this blog for info on book giveaways. When the time comes (closer to publication), I will be offering up some signed paperbacks. It’s kind of quiet around here most of the time, so your chances of snagging one are quite good. ;)

See you soon …