I decided at the nearly the very last minute to enter the SmartWriters contest and I’m glad that I did. I entered one of my favorite historical picture books, Mama’s Wedding Dress, and it received an honorable mention. (judged by Fran Rusackas) and Roxyanne said it made her weep. (I think I am destined to make people cry with my work)

I also entered a few poems from my current verse novel Mad Tastes Like Broccoli and it won 2nd place (judged by Sonya Sones). Oh my goodness! I am thrilled beyond belief as I have been dancing around Mad Tastes Like Broccoli for months and this is a very much needed kick in the behind to move forward on it. And to have Sonya Sones whom I admire tremendously read my work (and I’m told she made some comments – yeah!) well, I am just tickled.

Congratulations to the rest of the winners and especially to Laura Purdie Salas who WON the poetry category with her collection of poems on the 50 States. Laura and I are in a critique group together and I couldn’t be more happy for her.

This sure helps make up for the ouch in the Kirkus review for Hugging the Rock though they did give me a nice last line quote, “a poignant tale of father-daughter love and friendship.”