To Hell in a Handbasket is a Contest Finalist!

Recently I received one of those phone calls that every writer loves to get--a notification that my work is a finalist in a contest! I especially savored those calls when I was still unpublished because they validated that my writing was good enough to one day be published and that I should keep on plugging away at it. And now I savor them because they show that my writing stacks up well against that of my published peers. Plus there's the financial benefit of increased sales, usually. ;-)

This recent phone call from Lori Consentino of the Colorado Romance Writers was to tell me that my 2009 mystery book, To Hell in a Handbasket, is a finalist in the "Mainstream with Romantic Elements" category of the Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence Contest. To see the full list of finalist titles in all the categories, go here. My book is in good company with titles from St. Martin's Press, Avon, Bantam, Harlequin, NAL - Signet, Pocket Books, Dorchester, Kensington and other well-known publishers. Wish me luck!