The Good, The Bad, and the Exciting

The Good:

One of the best things about being a writer is hearing positive feedback from readers. A couple of readers have gone above and beyond and have really worked to promote Eternal Knight. One of these readers is Jahin Ahmed. He recently contacted me to let me know that he wrote a blog review of Eternal Knight. He's a young book reviewer and I think he deserves a lot of credit it for his efforts. And I appreciate the great review!

The Bad:

I've received my first bad (two star) review on Amazon. It had to happen at some point in time. The urge, of course, is to defend your work. You want to point out how wrong the reviewer was and to explain to readers of the review just how good your work is. This, of course, is the last thing in the world you should do. It does not end well for the author. What do you do? You just have to accept it. It is part of writing. No book survives unscathed. Take pleasure in the good reviews and drive on.

The Exciting:

I have entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Five thousand writers entered the contest. The first round consists of a 300 word pitch. This is actually the round I most dread. Taking a 115,000 word novel and turning it into a 300 word pitch is a brutal task. The one thousand survivors of round one will then be judged on the first 5,000 words of their novels. After that, the following two rounds are judged on the complete manuscript. Odds of winning are long, but even surviving a few round and bring your novel a lot of attention. And if you win, first prize is a publishing contract with Penguin.

Winners of the first round are announced on February 24th. I'll give you a shout if I made it.