32 days until the next ABNA announcement

[jaeten]

A couple of days ago, I was relieved and ecstatic to find out that I'd survived to the quarterfinal round in ABNA, the final 500. That jubilation was tempered by the knowledge that my good friend Swankivy (and, no matter if she doubts it, the only reason I was able to be in the competition at all) did not make it with her novel Stupid Questions.

Comments

[swankivy]

Try not to be scared of the evil crowds! You have as good a chance (and better in some cases) as anyone else. I'm still supporting you, though of course it probably would have been, uh, cooler if we both got picked. :P

[jaeten]

hehe, I'm not that worried in terms of my chances vs. the other folks; I'm actually kinda scared of angry people and their posts! I figure if I posted anything, the chances are that they'd a) completely ignore it, like shunning the nerdy kid who wants to sit at your clique's table at lunch or 2) jump down my throat, because it seems like a lot of them subscribe to the "if you have nothing angry to say, don't say anything at all" mentality. Yikes...I'd rather just keep my mouth shut, like I'm sure a lot of the other quarterfinalists are doing. I haven't seen any of the other names from our category except Don Falloon

[swankivy]

I have not "mastered" Twitter and don't gravitate toward it, but I do know how to use it and I try to tune in now and then. I sometimes follow publishing-industry people so I can stalk them. That's how I saw that my agent, before she was my agent, was talking about my book and how great it was, and just had a feeling that she was gonna offer me representation after I saw that.