(July 1st, 2012)

Happy Canada Day! I feel fortunate to be Canadian. Canada has been my home all of my life, so I have nothing to compare it with. I do know that we Canadians are far from perfect. So this isn’t a superiority thing. I’m sure other countries have bits and pieces that are every bit as beautiful. But still – being Canadian means something special to me. Check out Maggie Thom’s blog post. I think she does a great job of describing our reality. And Savvy Writers and e-Books Online, Happy Canada Day, Happy Canadian Writers was an eye-opener for me. Now I’m even happier to live in Canada.

On this special July 1^st Canada Day – Disappearing in Plain Sight is celebrating, as well. I just found out that I have made the semi-finalist cut in the Kindle Book Review’s 2013 Best Indie Book Awards. I am in the literary fiction category.

I have read that the semi-finalists received 2 out of 3 “Yes” votes from the 3 screeners. All submissions were judged on the first several pages of the book. The most critical elements at this stage were: Did the book grab our attention right away, quality of writing, and formatting.

Now What Happens?
From here, the judges will read all the 298 entries in full, and choose the Top-5 in each category. They will announce the Top-5 Category Finalists on Sept. 1st, and the Category Winners on Oct.1^st. The judges will rate the semi-finalists in 10 categories: Formatting, sample, plot, style, editing, character development, themes, story, ending, and in the case of a tie, they will judge books by their cover. Who says a book can’t be judged by its cover? Not these people!

The website says that semi-finalists have nothing to do but wait. Nice advice – like waiting is ever fun. Oh well. I am in a Yippee mood to have made this first cut. Feel like I’m having my own personal Stanley Cup play-offs. Hockey – Canada. Hey!

June Blog Party Prizes

And what about my June blog party prizes!!! I am busy tabulating all the likes, comments, pingbacks, and new followers for these exciting prizes:

1. An opportunity to make a guest appearance on my blog!! (Keep in mind – I am nearing the magical 1000 followers mark.) All likes for the month of June go in for this draw.
2. A $5.00 Amazon gift certificate. (No obligation to buy Disappearing in Plain Sight – just hint, hint, hint.) All comments for the month of June will be considered for this prize.
3. An autographed and mailed directly to you, copy of Disappearing in Plain Sight. This draw is for all those who did pingbacks, tweets, and new followers.

Countdowns

On July 3^rd Disappearing in Plain Sight will begin an Orange Berry Blog Tour. I’m so excited to be out in the blog world hopping around for an entire week. Please check out the link to the entire blog tour schedule. I am offering two $25.00 Amazon gift certificates as prizes over the duration of this tour, so do plan to be part of the fun.

What a difference a year makes!

(July 1st, 2013)

Happy Canada Day!