What Might Interest You (And Break You)

I thought this particular news might interest you if you have a manuscript complete and polished, ready to be shipped off for querying. Or for that one that has battled the query wars and needs some new love. Whatever you're writing about, as long as you have a finished manuscript, this might just be your call.

Because, have you heard of this thing called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award?

This one's a gamble which, if all goes well, will fetch you the reward of your dreams. Because then, you can go from this

To this:

Because, there's a contract with Penguin on the line. Oh yes.
Here's an extract straight from the website announcement:

Amazon.com, along with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace, is pleased to announce the fourth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. The competition will once again award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.

The Breakthrough Novel Award brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. If you're an author with an unpublished or previously self-published novel waiting to be discovered, visit CreateSpace to sign up for regular contest updates. Open submissions for manuscripts will begin on January 24, 2011 and run through February 6, 2011.

So yes, there's not much time. And there are official rules, which you need to check out. But give it a shot, and even if lady luck isn't shinning on you, there's the chance of you doing something like this:

See, good things happen.

Not always however. The bad things always drop in unexpectedly. Which brings me to the tragedy the entire writing community has been heartbroken by. L. K. Madigan, author of Flash Burnout and The Mermaid's Mirror, has been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer and she has shared a very brave and heartrending post about it.
I have yet to read her books but Flash Burnout is on my list. Also, she's a friend on Facebook and Twitter.
For all the losses I've experienced in the last two years, I cannot for the life of me imagine what she's going through. We all die and we all know it. But it's not something that's at the back of our mind every waking second. Losing someone close breaks that invincibility we build around us and when that someone is you, it's just something I cannot fathom dealing with. Which is what makes me want to salute Lisa for her courage and the eloquence with which she painted her words at such a difficult time.
It's a terrible thing. But perhaps it makes us realise how important every moment of this life is because inevitably there are things we regret, things we wish we'd done another way but wishing to change the past frankly doesn't change anything. Which is why it is necessary to hold on to the important things that make us happy. I'm rambling, really, but sudden bouts of epiphany does that to me.

I hope you will keep Lisa in your prayers and send her some love.
And I hope good things happen to you.