My Year of the Tiger...

...is off to a good start. The Wayback Machine has made the 1st cut in ABNA3 (Amazon Breakout Novel Contest) in the new YA division, and boy, does that feel good! Even though I've written off the contest as something of a lottery, with a single winner eventually "winning" a publishing contract from up to 5,000 entries, it was still a downer in ABNA1 and 2 to look for my name and not find it among the (long)listed titles.

It's been five years now since I decided to write in earnest, and this is my biggest boost so far. Oh, I had that excerpt from Mai Shangri-La published in Polar Expressions in 2007, but other than than, I'm building up my requisite (it seems) file of publisher and agent rejections. Some are kind, offering words of encouragement or bits of advice; others are pretty blunt. All part of the writers' babtism of fire, they say...

Next big date is March 23rd, when ABNA cuts to 500 "Quarterfinalists". I'm keeping my expectations low, but still, one can't help dreaming a bit of that big breakthrough. With growing global awareness of the fragility of the environment and the challenges ahead, maybe the time is at hand for us environmental "canaries in the coal mine". The challenge, of course, is to get the environmental message out subliminally, while telling a good story...

Still Edging Ahead...

...towards the day when Universal access on a single Ubiquitous device that's lighter than a lead-brick will put the riches of the web truly within Every person's reach.

On review, Apple's new iPad didn't do it, but Hearst's new Skiff, although not quite there yet, moves the bar significantly closer to the mark. Go Hearst!