I know blogging is dead and my previous post was supposed to be the last, but figured I'd do one more, because . . . gold, silver, bronze! 

My debut novel on suicide was previously a bronze and silver award recipient, and now it has won the gold medal in an international book contest!  NOT YET is a Book Excellence Award Winner in the Death & Dying category.

Here's the part I find hilarious -- the novel has won both a “Living Now” award as well as one for death and dying!

So, now I get to say that I'm an internationally award-winning novelist. I won (the novel won, not me) a statewide book contest, then a national award and now international, which I'm pretty convinced is basically just the US & Canada.     

Out of hundreds of books that were entered into the Book Excellence Awards competition, my book was selected for its "high-quality writing, design and overall market appeal".  And all I can think is, Did they even read it?  I guess so, and they even liked it. That feels weird.

One of the other Finalists received the prestigious PEN award, so it feels reassuring to be in good company. I want to write her an email and congratulate her on being selected as a Finalist for her book, Rock On, but I don't want her to think I'm gloating since I claimed the Winner's spot. However, I've found that most authors are pretty good about celebrating each other's victories. When I won the the Living Now Award, I reached out to Barbara Rubel and we've become good friends. She even came and spoke at our Suicide Prevention Coalition for an hour. Such an amazing woman. 

The congratulatory letter for the Book Excellence Award also stated:  "So, what’s next? You are now apart of the Book Excellence Community!"

Not “a part” of the community but rather “apart” FROM the community. Damn, that’s rough. Ha!

Anyway, here's the winner's award listing. I have to admit, it looks nice on their website. So clean.  

I'm practicing for my next Press Release:

"Erik Segall, internationally award-winning novelist and author of NOT YET, Gold Medal winner of the Book Excellence Award, recipient of the Silver Medal in the Living Now Book Awards for books that have changed your life and the Bronze Medal in Literary Fiction for the 26th Annual Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) EVVY Book Awards. Not Yet was released in 2019 by Harvard Square Editions and the story revolves around Aaron Clifton, a social worker at the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Hotline Center, who is tormented by the request to help his ailing grandmother kill herself. The book is perfect for survivors of suicide, friends and family who have lost someone to suicide, mental health workers, therapists, and teens struggling with depression. You can get a copy for yourself on Amazon or Barnes & Noble."

It's awkward pushing oneself out into the world. The first time we do this, it's bright and painful but we have our mother's help. Once we learn to walk, we stumble and risk making a fool of ourselves but it's the only way to get noticed. But is that what we truly crave, to be seen? I guess as an author, you really don't have a choice if anyone is to read your work.

Maybe it's the only way to change minds for the better, and if we're really lucky, save lives.