Dead Odds Wins Royal Palms Literary Award

One year and one week ago, my debut novel was published. It was the end of a long, confounding, anxiety-ridden and persistent journey.

After years of creating, thinking, writing, rewriting, editing, more rewriting, more editing, and finally several rounds of proof-reading, I felt I had a book worthy of the market, worthy of so many other writers I read and admire. Beta readers liked it. Editors were happy with it.

Dead Odds launched.

One year and one day after publication, Dead Odds collected some hardware – a first-place (gold) medal Royal Palm Literary Award for published thriller or suspense novel. I had been hopeful about some banquet recognition because I’d received notifications that the book had moved through several rounds of judging, first as a semifinalist, then as a finalist in that category and also in the published mystery or crime novel category.

Mostly during the awards banquet, though, I sat in awe of the talent that swelled the ballroom. I had no idea who most of the authors were. But as many of them were announced as winners and their book descriptions were read aloud, it was clear this was a bad-ass collection of writers.

[caption id="attachment_1025" align="alignright" width="300"] So, there were "press" at the awards banquet.[/caption]

The few authors I recognized I knew to be exceedingly strong (and decorated) craftsmen and craftswomen. Micki Browning, whose novel Beached won RLPA gold in 2018 for published mystery and overall book of the year, sat with us. A few minutes into the evening, another author at the table, JC Gatlin, won gold for his published mystery, H_NGM_N (Hangman). (The novel also earned him first-runner-up honors for book of the year.)

And one woman, at 95 years old, won for a memoir she had published. 95!

I feel humbled to have won an award the same year another Central Florida writer, Ken Pelham, picked up three honors for published short story and published blog post or article.

While smiling, I felt more like how Kurt Russell portrayed Herb Brooks after his Team USA hockey team beat the Russians in the movie "Miracle." (Skip to the 1:50 mark.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp-j6GJJgJ8

One of the most-asked questions at writer/author conferences is, “What’s the best thing I can do for myself after my book is published?” Expecting the answers to be among a group of non-writing tasks such as marketing, going on a blog tour or book-signings, authors get another answer instead. It is: finish your next book.

Marching orders.