Genesis Contest Results!

As I mentioned here on the blog a few weeks ago, I entered three novels into American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2009 Genesis contest–one in Speculative Fiction, one in Contemporary Romance, and one in Women’s Fiction. Results were posted today, and I finaled in Spec Fic. I’m pretty happy about it, though of course I had high hopes for more than that!

My Spec Fic entry is getting a couple of touch-ups based on the first round judges’ comments (also received today), and being sent back to HQ to be delivered to the final round judges. The scoresheets for the other two entries will be sent to me sometime in the next few weeks. I can see this isn’t as high on the priority list for the category coordinators as notifying finalists!

My novel Joy Comes In the Morning (Chloe’s tale) is out to critiquers right now, and even though it didn’t final in Romance, I still think it’s a strong novel and worth carrying on with. The Women’s Fic, Dottie, isn’t complete yet and I have to admit to a wee bit of relief that I don’t have the pressure of pushing on it. It was a long chance to enter an unfinished manuscript (one I wouldn’t recommend, actually!) and this novel still has a long way to go before it’s ready for the light of day.

Meanwhile, here are the 2009 finalists:

CONTEMPORARY FICTION:
(total entries: 44)

Sharon Ball
David W. Fry
Jennifer Griffith
Ane Mulligan
Patty Slack

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE:
(total entries: 75)

Cathy Bryant
Kathleen Haynes
Lisa Jordan
Christy LaShea Smith
Eileen Astels Watson

HISTORICAL FICTION:
(total entries: 39)

Nancy Herriman
D’Ann Mateer
Christina Miller
Sandi Rog
Christine Schmidtke

HISTORICAL ROMANCE (six finalist entries due to a tie, but one is a
double finalist):
(total entries: 57)

Jody Hedlund (double finalist with two entries)
Lisa Richardson
Connie Stevens
Gina Welborn
Lacy Williams

MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/ THRILLER:
(total entries: 45)

David Fry
Anne Greene
Dineen Miller
Lynda Schab
Alan Schleimer

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE:
(total entries: 50)

Mary F. Allen
Wenda Dottridge
Danica Favorite-McDonald
Kelly Ann Riley
Janet Warren

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/ SPECULATIVE FICTION:
(total entries: 45)

Valerie Comer
Megan Ebba
David Fry
Suzanne Krein
Lisa Tuttle

WOMEN’S FICTION:
(total entries: 62)

Cathleen Armstrong
Marie Wells Coutu
Candee Fick
Julie Garmon
Ashely Weis

YOUNG ADULT:
(total entries: 37)

Kasey L. Heinly
Gretchen Hoffman
Susan Miura
Diana Sharples (double finalist with two entries)

Congratulations to all the finalists!!