I was really excited the other day when I got an envelope from Writer’s Digest.
Last year I entered their International Self-Published Book Awards in the humor category. The great thing about that is that I entered under my own name and did not let my human take any credit, like she usually tries to do. See? The letter is addressed to me only:
I wondered if they had a ceremony, and if I should be preparing an acceptance speech.
But then I started to read the letter…. Wait a minute! I didn’t win! According to them, “Competition was particularly fierce this year and we could only award one grand prize and ten category prizes.” I quickly flipped to the judge’s commentary. They rate you on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). I got a 5 for grammar (of course), and they loved my cover photograph and layout… except for the chapter font, which had “a rather odd, overlapping quality to it that made it hard to read.” My stupid human sent in an old copy of the book before the font was fixed! So as a result I only got a 4 for structure and design. Never mind that she would have missed the deadline if she had waited for the new font — she should have been prepared. I thought I trained her better than that.
My fur is a little ruffled over this whole thing. I think I will let my human take the credit for my loss.
See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.
Awww! Sparkle, you are still a winner in our book!!
Well, she’ll never make that mistake again!!!
Blame it on the human, yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket LOL
Aw, Sparkle, I’m sorry you didn’t win. Here’s a *gentle pettie* as a consolation prize. You know all of us at the Paws and Effect Gang love you. 🙂
Sparkle, that really is too bad but surely you can try again and we all know you will win next time. We love your blog and so we know you are great at writing. Keep up the work.
Bummer! But at least your human was brave enough to enter… She’s one up on me!
We’re sorry you didn’t win Sparkle but we’re proud of you for trying! Better luck next time!
You’re first in our hearts, Sparkle. 😉
It’s the price we have to pay for human staff. I’m sure you should have won!
ruffled furs can make you cranky…you need a spa day!
You take top prize in my book, Miss Sparkle!!
Don’t worry, Sparkle. We already know you are a winner.
It’s their loss, Sparkle. I think the fact that you wrote the book, got it published, and entered the contest was incredible enough! I’m very impressed on that alone. 🙂