Pride vs. Prizes or Why I'm too Logical to Compete Properly

His Secret Past, my May 2008 Superromance, has been invited to the Big Dance. It’s one of the 64 lucky books chosen to compete in the Smart Bitches/Dear Author March Madness Tournament (DABWAHA—Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors).

Sweeet!

The author in me is delighted. What an honor.

I must immediately go to the contest site, fill in my bracket, and crown my book the ultimate champion, right? Because it’s all about pride and I am proud of my book. (Look, I devoted an entire page of my website to it!)

So yeah, I’m proud.

The trouble is, on the tournament page there are prizes. Really good prizes like a Sony Reader and fantastic gift certificates and more. You win those prizes by guessing correctly about which book will ultimately win the tournament. Of the more than 400 people (as of this writing) who have so far filled out a bracket, not one has picked His Secret Past to win.

(Umm…Mom? Hellooo? Too busy for the internet today?)

So that’s my dilemma. If I pick my book, I’m obviously not going to win the yummy prizes.

Pride or prizes?

What’s a girl to do?

It’s a tough choice, but…dude, a Sony Reader. Seriously.
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Go Spymaster’s Lady, Go!
  • Fill out your bracket here.
  • See my bracket here.
  • Check the champions list to see if my Mom gets on the stick and picks my book here.
P.S. Much like my hometown Cornell Big Red (invited to the NCAA Tournament through the auto-bid for being Ivy League champs aka Best of the Nerd Schools), I’m glad to be part of the party, even if I am a total underdog. Thanks Dear Author and Smart Bitches for making romance fun. ;-)

Comments

Ellen Hartman said…
I love it when I leave the first comment on my own blog. Kathleen O'Reilly has a funny take on her nomination here.
March 17, 2009 at 2:50 PM
Jennifer L said…
Ellen, His Secret Past is in my immediate TBR pile (that would be the one on my nightstand, as opposed to all the others around my house), and I can't wait to read it.
Here's hoping it wins the contest!
March 22, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Ellen Hartman said…
Hi Jennifer! I hope you enjoy His Secret Past. I...well, it got crushed in the contest--no surprise--it was up against a fantastic and popular book! (Delicious by Sherry Thomas)

I was just so tickled to see it up there with some pretty amazing books!

Best of luck in your writing. The world of romance fiction is a generous and friendly one. I hope you enjoy the journey!

Cheers,
Ellen
March 22, 2009 at 4:18 PM
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