My friend and fellow writer Beth Polen has made it to the Semi-Finals of the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award! I’ve had the honor of reading her young-adult novel Wish — she workshopped the manuscript in some Fat Plum Book Boot Camps that I helped run — and it’s a terrific book. Beth is an exceptionally talented writer and it’s great to see her work getting recognized. It’s heartening to see persistence and patience pay off.
You can read an excerpt of the story here and post a review. The reviews posted of this and any of the other 800 semi-finalists will help determine which make it to the finals on March 3. I’ve got a good feeling Wish could go all the way in this contest: a publishing contract with Penguin!
Actually, even if she doesn’t win the big prize I know that Beth is destined to be published. She’s that good. But besides talent, Beth has this incredible grace about her writing. She doesn’t get hung up on the outcome, which is out of her hands (as it is for all of us, no matter what the endeavor). She simply focuses on the effort and enjoys the process.
Hey, I think I just had a little break through of my own.
