Got an email on Wednesday night from the Amazon folks with a link to check if I’d got through the first sift on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  Turns out I made it through on my category – YA – to Round 2.  This was based on pitch only, so as well as being pleased to have made the first hurdle, it gives me more confidence about doing pitches.

I’m not going to start jumping up and down yelling “Yipee!” yet as I’ve been in this position on the first BritWriters and a number of other large competitions.  But it is a boost to my confidence.

Meanwhile, I’ve made zero progress on my goals because of a) spending loads of time on Squidoo lenses as they keep setting me ‘quests’ and b) when I checked what the publisher wanted, it turns out that the submission must include a one page synopsis.  Having spent a lot of time and effort in the past to produce a 2 page synopsis for this 167,000 fantasy epic, I was aghast at seeing this so I haven’t found the strength to tackle it yet.  And lack of time and energy left over from Squidoo has prevented me from working on the WIP.  I am going to have to back off from Squidoo.

Anyway, here is the latest ROW80 blog list: