I don’t brag. Ever. It’s not in me. I can’t even take a compliment without negating it, verbally.
But stay with me for a moment because 2 monumental things happened yesterday and I am bursting to share them.
Most of you know I am a big contest enter-er. I love me a good writing contest.
Well, I entered a few over the past 8 months. I was a finalist in two already – didn’t win, but was happy just to make it to the finals.
And now…I’m a finalist in 2 more. And not just ANY two contests. Two ultimate, prestigious, amazeballs contests.
The Holt Medallion is a romance writing contest put on by the Virginia Romance Writers. When I say prestigious, I really mean it. Any romance writer would love to win one of the fabulous medallions. My book, YOU’RE MY MATCH is a finalist in the Long Contemproary category along with 4 other authors who are all amazing!!
If that wasn’t enough to drive my ego up into the stratosphere, I also got word that I am a finalist in the most prestigious romance writing award of all for published romance writers, THE DIAMOND HEART from RWA. My book, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS is a finalist in the contemporary category.
These are two very different romances, and yet…they each speak to an issue I am very vocal about: mental health. You’re My Match deals with mania and hoarding behaviors of the MMC’s mother, while A Chef’s Kiss Christmas deals with grief, loss, and ( a word I hate) closure. The MMC’s wife dies during Covid and he is stuck and unable to move through his grief. It is only as I am writing this post that I realized how much mental health played in both these stories.
Maybe that’s what resonated with the reader/judges?
I may never know, but just to be a finalist in these two amazing award categories is enough to make me stop and take a few deep breaths.
Somedays it really pays to open your emails, kids.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 